Sidelined
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: This story picks up where Minutes Turning into Hours left off. A baffling discovery at a crime scene leads the detectives of the Major Crimes division down a familiar path. Meanwhile, can Sharon cope with being on medical leave during their latest case?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is the next story and it picks up right where _Minutes Turning Into Hours_ left off. I hope you all enjoy this one!

Chapter 1

Lieutenant Andy Flynn drove his car to the crime scene and he arrived 20 minutes later after hanging up with Provenza. Mike had called him, waking him up from his slumber, which in turn woke up Sharon. Andy had finally gotten some sleep around midnight only to be up again at 3. He had spent the next ten minutes trying to convince Sharon to get back into bed, which is where he wanted to be right now.

He parked his car and paused for a minute before stepping outside and walking towards the crime scene. Amy met him at the crime scene tape and showed him where the rest of the team was located. He stepped into the backyard of the house and saw the LAPD dive team in the pool, retrieving a body.

"Ah Flynn! Nice of you to join us here," Provenza sarcastically said. "Yeah, well, it wasn't easy trying to convince Sharon to stay home, even on Doctor's orders," Andy scratched his head as he watched the divers remove the body. "So what do we have?" he asked Provenza.

"Well, the owners of the house discovered this body here in the pool, earlier this morning. Julio is speaking with them now," Provenza pointed to where Julio was with the owners. "Did they know who it is?" Andy asked, in a hopeful voice. "No, unfortunately not," Provenza muttered as he watched Kendall look over the body.

"This body is in complete rigor and it looks to me like it is completely frozen," Kendall stated as he moved from the head to the legs of the body. "You got a time of death?" Provenza asked him. Kendall looked up at him and shook his head. "The body is going to have to be thawed before we can determine that, Lieutenant," he signed some paper on the clip board that another attendant handed him and then returned to the body.

"Great! A frozen, dead body in someone's pool that owners can't identify, this is just perfect!" Provenza quipped as he took his white, bucket hat off of his head and crumpled it in frustration. Andy watched his friend and shook his head. He looked around the back yard and found Mike looking at something along the fence line.

"You got something Mike?" Andy asked him as he approached the fence. "Not sure, I'm wondering how the body ended up in the pool, if all the gates to the yard have locks, and none of them are busted," Mike stated as he dusted the fence gate area where the locks were located. "Maybe we can get some sort of print, and start that way?" Mike stated as he pulled some prints off of the area and placed them onto a white card.

"Alright Buzz! Did you get the owners statements?" Provenza asked him as he walked over to where Julio and he were standing. "Uh yes sir," Buzz answered. "Good," he answered and then turned to Andy who was approaching him with Mike.

"Flynn, go with the body to the morgue and find out when Doctor Morales will be able to get everything done. Mike, take those prints back to the office and run them, see if anything pops up. Amy, check with missing persons, see if anyone matches the description of our dead body here. Julio, you and Buzz head back to the office and see if we can make heads or tails over the owners' statements," Provenza barked out the orders of the early morning, and everyone went their separate ways.

Andy walked back to his car when his phone alerted a text message to him. He pulled out his phone and saw a message from Sharon. He shook his head. It was 4:45 in the morning and Sharon was asking him about the crime scene. 'You're supposed to be sleeping dear' he texted back to her and then opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. 'Humor me please?' she responded. He shook his head, placing the phone down while starting the car.

He then picked the phone back up and dialed her number. She picked up on the second ring. "Why are you up?" he asked her softly and he could tell she was smiling. "Because you left our warm bed in the middle of the night and I missed you," she teased him and he smiled. "Well, duty called and you're supposed to be resting and not worrying about work," he told her as he placed her on speaker and started to drive towards the morgue.

"So what's the call out?" she asked him as she laid in bed. "And I am resting in our nice, warm bed so don't worry about that," she added. Andy chuckled. "Oh are you now? Seems to me like you wanted to know about the crime scene," he told her. "Well, I just wanted to know why my husband had to leave?" she teased him again. Andy took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before they continued this banter over the phone.

"So, the body discovered in the backyard pool in the Pacific Palisades was completely frozen, according to Kendall. I'm on my way to the morgue right now to get some sort of timeline from Doctor Morales to see when he can get a cause of death to us," Andy informed her as he continued to drive. "Hmm, the body was completely frozen? That's a little odd. Could the owners of the house identify the body?" she asked as she shifted in bed.

"No, they don't know who the body is," he told her as he took I-10 towards downtown LA. He heard her sigh into the phone. "Look, get some sleep and I'll check in with you later this morning, maybe after I know some more information on this," he said knowing that she would not listen to him but hopeful that if he said he would call her later, it would help in coaxing her. "Okay, be careful driving," she told him. "I will, love you," he replied and he could tell she was smiling. "I love you too," she said and then they hung up their phones.

Andy rubbed his hand over his jaw as he drove down the highway. Minimal traffic was on the roads and he saw the skyline of the city, buildings with their lights on still. He made his way off the highway and exited at Maple Avenue, taking that to 5th Street then turning onto Main Street and headed into downtown.

He pulled into the morgue parking area for police vehicles and exited his car. He walked into the other entrance and waited for Doctor Morales. He saw Kendall walking down the hallway. "Hey Lieutenant, your body was just brought in and Doctor Morales is taking a look at it right now, he should be out shortly," Kendall told him. "Thanks," Andy stated as he continued to sit there.

He thought back to when Sharon had taken over the Major Crimes division. He had been pissed that day, not only because Larry Martin was killed in their custody, but also because Sharon kept her promotion a secret from him. He had later apologized to her for his outburst there and she had forgiven him. His memory was interrupted by Doctor Morales as he stepped into the hallway.

"Lieutenant, please step inside," Doctor Morales held the door open for Andy. "So anything you can tell us right now, Doc?" he asked him as he stepped closer to the body. It was completely frozen. There were icicles and frost all over the body. "Well, I'm not sure how the body got to be completely frozen, but I will tell you that I won't be able to do an autopsy for another few days until it's completely thawed out," Doctor Morales stated as he poked the body with one of his tools.

"Did you find any ID on him?" Andy asked as he watched the doctor. "No, his jeans pockets were frozen but I was able to break off some of the ice to search his pockets and they were empty," Doctor Morales looked at Andy. "How about fingerprints?" he asked. "Well, that may be difficult as well," Doctor Morales sighed as he moved to show Andy the body's fingers. "They're frostbitten," he showed him.

"But, hang on because I could warm them up, it will take a couple of hours to do so, but I can warm up his hands and then maybe we could get a good fingerprint to run," Doctor Morales suggested as he took out the hair dryer. "Can you let me know when you're able to run them?" Andy asked and Doctor Morales nodded. "Sure, by the way, how's the Commander doing?" he asked Andy as he was about to leave the room.

"She's doing okay, trying to get her to obey Doctor's orders and rest is challenging," Andy shook his head as he chuckled a little. "Give her my best," Doctor Morales stated and then Andy left the room. He exited the way he came in and decided to move his car to the PAB parking lot.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Sharon was lying in bed, wide awake, wondering about how this frozen body could have come to be. She stood up out of bed, a little shaky at first but then gained her footing and walked over to the chair where her laptop was. She picked it up and brought it back to bed with her. She logged on when the startup screen came up and ran a search on Google.

She then heard a knock on her door. She moved the laptop to the side and pulled the covers up and around her. "Come in," she cleared her throat and Matthew walked into the room. "Good morning sweetie," she told him as he climbed up onto the bed and joined her. "Where's Dad?" Matthew asked as he noticed Andy wasn't there.

"He got called into a crime scene early this morning," Sharon told him as she moved the laptop to the other side of her, allowing Matthew to lay down on her right side. "It's a little early for you to be up, is everything okay?" she asked him and he nodded. She pulled the laptop back on her lap and started typing into a word document as she continued to do some research online.

"I'm going to call Doctor Joe's office this morning and see when he is available to talk with you," Sharon told him as she scrolled down a list that the search engine brought back to her. "What is he going to ask me?" Matthew asked her as he laid there. Sharon put her laptop to her side again.

"Well, he's going to ask you what's been going on lately and how you've been doing. I would be very honest with him, Matthew, because like your father and I, he's there to help you, and the more you tell him what's troubling you, the more he'll be able to help," she told him and he understood.

She watched him lay there and wondered what really was troubling this kid when her phone alerted to a text message. She picked it up from the night stand and saw the message was from Andy. 'Done at the morgue, really no answers yet, Morales says hello' the message stated. 'Hope you are sleeping' was the next message he sent her. She smiled and shook her head. 'I'm up, hanging out with Matthew in our room' she responded.

'He's very lucky to have such a wonderful mom' he replied to her text as he was walking from the elevator to the office. He glanced at the time on his phone and then made his way through the door into the office. Mike was sitting at his desk, running the fingerprints he had picked up off of the fence area. Provenza was sitting at his desk, reading the newspaper.

"Glad to see you have better things to do than trying to solve this murder," Andy said sarcastically as he passed Provenza on the way to his desk. "Just waiting to hear what you have to say," Provenza quipped from behind the newspaper. "Did Morales give you a timeline?" he asked him. "Well, the body is completely frozen, so for him to do an autopsy, it's going to be a couple of days before the body gets thawed out for him," Andy explained and Mike looked up from his computer screen to listen to Andy.

"Anything yet on the prints you lifted?" Andy asked Mike as he walked over to Mike's desk. "Not yet," Mike replied. "We need to identify the frozen body first," Provenza stated. "Yeah, Morales is trying to heat up the guy's fingers by running a hair dryer over them. He's supposed to call me later and let me know if that works," Andy answered him. "It should, unless the fingers fall off," Mike chimed in and both Andy and Provenza gave him a look.

Julio and Buzz were in the Electronics room going over the video of the owners of the house. "I don't think they're involved," Buzz stated as they watched the video. "What makes you say that?" Julio asked him. "Because, they're too frantic and not calm at all," Buzz answered him. "In my Reserve Officer Training, when you take a statement," Buzz started but Julio stopped him. "I get it Buzz, you don't have to go into your training," Julio told him.

Amy walked back into the office and placed some folders on her desk. "And what did Missing Persons have to say, anything?" Provenza asked her as they all turned around when she walked into the room. "Well, they have about 30 missing people that have been reported to them in the last 6 months and 5 of them meet the criteria of the body that was discovered in the backyard pool," Amy told them and then handed out the folders to the Lieutenants.

"Mitch Robinson, missing for two weeks, from Westchester, worked at LAX as a food vendor," Andy read the report that was handed to him. "Says here his boss reported him missing, no family in the area," he continued and then placed the information on the Murder Board.

"Brad Hammel, missing for one month, lived in University Park and taught at USC part time," Mike read his report as Andy wrote the information on the board. "This is interesting, USC didn't know he was missing because he had requested a sabbatical a week before and it was granted," Mike continued. "Who reported him missing?" Provenza asked. "According to the report, his parents, who live in Salt Lake City," Mike replied.

"Barry Nelson, missing for two months, from Brentwood," Amy started to read. "That's close to the Palisades," Provenza pointed out. "Worked as a mortgage broker and was reported missing by his wife," Amy continued. "Ah! See? There's always a wife involved!" Provenza stated and Andy shook his head at him. "Missing Persons interviewed the wife and they ruled her out, sorry Lieutenant!" Amy added. "That doesn't mean anything, and what do they know?" Provenza mulled over that fact.

"Who's next?" Andy asked as he turned around from the board and looked at them. Provenza picked up a folder and started to read the information. "Okay, John Moore, is the next missing person. Last seen in Griffith Park over a week ago and was reported missing when he didn't return from his morning run," Provenza read and handed the picture to Andy.

"He was reported by his partner," Provenza continued and then looked up at Andy, Mike, and Amy as they stood around. "What?" he asked them. "Just waiting to hear you say "it's always the partner!"," Mike added.

Provenza closed the file folder and placed it on the pile that they already looked at, leaving one more folder to go. "Okay, last one is Michael Anderson, reported missing by his coach when he didn't show up for morning practice," Mike read. "An athlete?" Andy asked and Mike read further down in the report. "Apparently he plays for the Ontario Reign," he stated. "That's the American Hockey League affiliate to the LA Kings," Andy pointed out.

"The team is from Ontario, California, which is a long way from where the body was discovered," Mike added as Andy wrote the last information up on the board. "If the body is this Michael guy, what was he doing so far away from where they play hockey?" Andy asked and Mike was on his computer running another search. "This might be why. The Ontario Reign, according to their schedule, was in Bakersfield the day before Michael disappeared playing the Bakersfield Condors," Mike stated from his computer.

"So, if this is his body, why was he in the Palisades?" Provenza asked but no one answered him. Buzz and Julio stepped out of the Electronics room and joined everyone else in front of the Murder Board. "Anything else from the interview?" Provenza asked them. "No sir. Buzz doesn't think those people where involved," Julio said as he turned to Buzz.

"Oh really? And why is that Sherlock Holmes?" Provenza asked Buzz. "Well Lieutenant, in my Reserve Officer's training class, there are tell tail signs that someone is telling the truth," Buzz stated and Provenza rolled his eyes. "And you think these people were telling the truth?" Andy asked Buzz. "Yes, sir, I believe they were," Buzz answered him.

"Fine, fine, we have a list of potential people this frozen body could be," Provenza stated and brought everyone's concentration back up to the Murder Board. "Now we just have to wait for Doctor Morales to call us with some good news," Andy stated and then walked back to his desk. Everyone else did the same and sat down at their desks, waiting to hear back from the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Sharon was getting things ready for Matthew to take for his lunch to school. Emily was up and agreed to drive Matthew that morning. "So are you ready?" Emily asked Matthew as she walked into the kitchen. Matthew nodded as Sharon handed his lunch box over to him. "Let me just put this in my backpack and I'm ready to go," he told her.

Emily then watched her mom gather her purse and gave her a quizzical look. "Where are you going?" she asked her. "Well, I thought I would go with you," Sharon simply said. "Do you think that's a good idea?" Emily asked her as she shook her head. "I'm tired of being in this house, going with you to take Matthew to school isn't going to harm anyone, besides I went there yesterday morning with Andy when he took him to school," Sharon tried to reason with her daughter.

Her mom did make her point with that one, Emily thought to herself as she stood there. "Fine," Emily huffed, defeated by her mother's logic. "Good, because I would like to speak with his principal as well when we drop him off at school," Sharon stated and walked to the back door where Matthew was waiting. Sharon locked the back door and walked with Emily to her car. They all got inside and Emily drove to Matthew's school.

Sharon texted Andy to let him know they were taking Matthew to school. She didn't ask him about how the case was going because she didn't want it to seem like she was pestering him for details. She figured he would eventually tell her when they found out more information from Doctor Morales. She was glad to see Andy's reply message so quickly.

'What? I thought Emily was driving him to school this morning?' he responded to her text. 'She is, I'm just along for the ride' she reassured him as she shook her head. 'Sharon, please take it easy' his text pleaded with her. 'Just going to his school, speaking with the principal about yesterday, and then I'm coming back home' she told him, knowing that he would be concerned about her.

He changed the subject because he started to feel frustrated even more as he sat at his desk reading Sharon's text messages. 'I miss you' he told her. 'I love you' he added next and sent that one. 'And I want you to be safe' he sent her with a red heart emoji after that message. She smiled as she read them and realized they were already at Matthew's school when she looked up from her phone.

'I love you and I miss you too. Please be safe at work' she replied to him and added a kissing emoji to her message. Emily got out of the car and Matthew did as well. They both waited for Sharon to get out and then all three of them walked towards the school entrance. "Take Matthew to his room while I go to the office to speak with the principal," she told Emily and then looked at Matthew.

"Please don't get into any fights today, listen to your teachers, alright?" she told him. "Yes Mom," he answered her and then left with Emily. Sharon turned around and headed towards the office. As she walked inside, she saw the secretary sitting at the front desk. "Oh, Good Morning Mrs. Flynn, what can I do for you?" the secretary asked her.

"Well, I was hoping to speak with Principal Gottardo for a brief moment if she's available," Sharon asked her as she stood there waiting. "Um, she's in her office, let me go get her, just a moment please," she got up and walked towards the small office. A few seconds went by before the principal walked out. "Ah, Mrs. Flynn, I trust you heard what happened yesterday afternoon?" Principal Gottardo stated.

"Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you briefly about," Sharon told her and she nodded. "Here, come into my office," she gestured for her and Sharon stepped inside as Principal Gottardo made her way around her desk and sat down.

"I just want you to know that Matthew is not a troublemaker. We sat down with him last night and explained to him why fighting would not be tolerated," Sharon spoke to her and she listened. "Well, I'm glad you and your husband are taking an active role in Matthew's life," she told her. "This has been a difficult couple of days for him, ever since I got injured on the job and I know he is holding a lot of stuff in," Sharon started to say but stopped to compose herself.

"Mrs. Flynn, don't worry. The only discipline Matthew is getting is eating lunch and recess in my office. He'll be okay," she smiled and reassured Sharon. "Thank you," she said and then stood up from her chair and the principal walked her out where Emily was waiting for her. "Thank you again," Sharon told her and then walked out of the office with Emily and they headed back to the car.

Emily drove them back home and when they got home, Sharon sat in the kitchen at the table. "Could you go upstairs for me and grab my laptop and bring it down here?" she asked Emily and she nodded. Sharon pulled out her phone and dialed Doctor Joe's number. He answered his phone on the third ring.

"Hello, Commander Flynn, what do I owe this pleasure of speaking with you," Doctor Joe said over the phone. Emily came back down with her mom's laptop and placed it on the kitchen table as her mother was now on the phone.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

Sharon was sitting at the kitchen table speaking with Doctor Joe and asking him if he had any available appointments for Matthew to come talk to him. "Well, let's see, I can see him tomorrow afternoon, around 3:30, would that work?" Doctor Joe asked. "Yes, that would be fine," Sharon replied as she marked it down on her calendar.

"I heard you got shot, how are you recovering?" he asked her over the phone. "Oh, well I'm not released from my Doctor yet to return to work but I'm doing better," she said, which was the truth, her doctor didn't release her yet and she was better than a couple of days ago. "Good, well I look forward to seeing Matthew tomorrow afternoon. Take care!" Doctor Joe said and then they hung up the phone.

Emily walked back into the kitchen after Sharon hung up her phone. She was now on her computer, continuing the search she had started that morning when Matthew came to visit her. "So, you got Matthew an appointment tomorrow after school?" she asked her. "Yes, I did," Sharon continued to look at her computer.

"What are you working on?" Emily inquired. "Andy was called out this morning and the body they discovered was completely frozen. I was just looking up a couple of things to maybe aid in the investigation," Sharon told her as she continued to type.

"Mom, you're not supposed to be working!" Emily scoffed at her. Sharon looked up from her computer and leaned back in her chair. "I'm just trying to keep myself busy as to not go stir crazy sitting at home while my team is investigating a new case," she told her as she brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. "Oh, and what would Andy say to you if he found out that you were doing research on this frozen body?" Emily asked her, knowing that he would say the same thing she just told her.

"When Andy had to stay home due to his dust up with the car, he told me the same thing, that if I could have him work on field cards, he could do that while he sat in front of the TV relaxing," Sharon thought back to that memory. "So, that's exactly what I'm trying to do now, although the rest of the team doesn't know that, yet," she muttered the last few words as Emily shook her head and let out a slight laugh. "Mom, getting your rest and not worrying about work means exactly that!" she told her.

"Let me put it to you this way, when you dance, you enjoy it right? You want to do it for hours and hours and never get tired, correct?" Sharon asked her daughter. "Yes, of course," Emily hated when she was right. "So, that's just like me, I love my job, and I would do it and keep doing it until I physically can't anymore," Sharon paused for a moment. "I can still physically help my team out," she added hoping Emily would see that working on a computer while sitting at home put her in no danger.

"Mom, I want you to be okay. Your spleen is enlarged and while you are at home you are supposed to be on rest so that your spleen has time to heal properly. Plus, you're still in some pain. I know two weeks of this is hard, but if it means that health wise, you get better, than I think it would be worth it," Emily pleaded with her and Sharon understood where her daughter was coming from. Sharon held her arms out and Emily walked over to her and gave her a hug.

"Just give me an hour, and then we can relax and watch any movie you want," Sharon told her as she hugged her daughter. "Mom," Emily let out a sigh, shook her head, and then walked away from her and tended to the dishes from breakfast this morning that were still in the sink. Sharon watched her daughter for a brief moment before returning to her laptop.

Back at the office, it was 10 o'clock and they still hadn't received any word from Doctor Morales on the progress of trying to get the fingerprints on their victim's body. They were investigating all five potential victims as being the body that was discovered in the pool. It had seemed they were at a standstill on all avenues.

"Those fingerprints that I picked up off of the fence area in the backyard of the house did not come back to anyone with a previous record," Mike stated to the team as everyone still sat at their desks. Andy sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He turned his head to look at Sharon's office. He wondered how she was doing this morning after taking Matthew to school with Emily. He stood up and walked into her office and closed the door behind him.

Provenza looked up from his desk along with everyone else and watched Andy as he sat down on the couch inside her office. Andy pulled out his phone and dialed her number. Sharon was still sitting at the kitchen table when her phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw Andy's picture on it. She smiled as she answered her phone.

"Are you calling to check up on me?" she stated to him as she sat there. "Uh, yes I am and I just wanted to tell you that I miss you a lot," Andy was caught off guard by her answering the phone like that. "Oh, you do?" she teased him. "So, how are you doing?" he asked her. "I'm okay, just sitting here at the kitchen table, with my laptop," she answered him.

"You're not working are you, Commander?" he asked her in a low voice as he sat there, imagining what she was wearing even though he knew it was something appropriate. "Well, Lieutenant, I was just looking up some information regarding frozen bodies because my team picked up a new case earlier this morning," she told him. She could hear him sigh over the phone. "Sharon," he mumbled and shook his head.

"What? I was just looking up some information to keep me busy and I told Emily in about an hour that we can rest and relax in front of the TV and watch movies the rest of the day," she informed him. "Fine," he said to her which shocked her how easily he gave in to her at that moment. "I've been up for eight hours so far, you have me at a disadvantage right now, and I would rather not argue with my wife," Andy told her as he ran his hand over his face.

"I just called to say that I missed you and wanted to know how you were doing," he added, trying to change the subject back to how she was feeling and not what she was doing. "I feel okay, I took my medication this morning, I didn't feel dizzy like I did yesterday, so far," she said as she knocked on the wooden table. "Well, that's good," he answered her. "Did you talk to the principal like you were hoping to?" he asked.

"Yes, we had a nice conversation and then when we got back home, I called Doctor Joe and spoke to him about Matthew. He has an opening tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 so when Emily and I pick him up from school, we will go right over there for his appointment," Sharon told him. "Good, that's good to hear, at least we got that ball rolling," Andy sighed.

"How are things going with the case?" Sharon asked as she could tell Andy was getting frustrated. "Uh, we seem to be at a stand-still right now. Morales hasn't called back, Mike lifted fingerprints from the fence area where it looked like it was broken in to but they didn't come back to anyone with a record, and we have five potential victims that match the description of the body that was discovered," Andy told her, even though he was reluctant at first.

"I'm sorry," she ran her hand against her temple and got an idea. "You know, if you miss me, I could come in and sit in my office, looking over things or writing field cards, something light-duty-ish?" Sharon tried persuading him but she knew he wasn't going to give in. "Uh no Sharon, sorry but the Doctor told you to rest and no work. In fact, you shouldn't even be on your laptop looking up things and I shouldn't be telling you that we are at a stand-still here," Andy pleaded with her.

"Okay, okay," she sighed into the phone. Andy stood up from her couch and started to make his way towards the door. That's when he saw Morales walk into the Murder Room. "I'm going to let you go now, please get some rest and relax, I'll see you later tonight," he smiled into the phone. "Okay, I love you," she told him. "Love you too," he said and hung up his phone. He opened the door and stepped out of her office.

"Flynn, the good doctor here was just about to tell us what he's found out in our frozen body case," Provenza said and Andy walked over to the rest of the team. He eyed him as he walked out of Sharon's office but wasn't going to address that until later, perhaps. "So, everyone, I was able to thaw out a portion of the right hand for you to get a possible match to one of your victims here on your board," Doctor Morales stated as he looked at the Murder Board.

Doctor Morales looked down at his paperwork he was holding and then back up at the Murder Board. "And we have a match," he said as he pulled Michael Anderson's picture off of the board and handed it to Provenza. "The hockey player?" Mike asked as he looked at Andy who gave a quizzical look. "Unfortunately I won't have a cause of death until I can do the autopsy, which will be in 48 hours give or take," Doctor Morales informed everyone.

"How were you able to get an ID through the fingerprints, it's not like hockey players are registered like bank employees or other professions," Andy asked Morales. "Ah, yes, glad you asked Lieutenant. If you see further down on the report, his parents registered his fingerprints when he was ten years old as part of the National Child Identification Program," Doctor Morales informed them.

"Wonder why they did that?" Provenza mumbled as the team stood there. "A lot of parents registered their kids in that program, sir," Julio stated to Provenza. "In case they're kidnapped," Andy added. "Should we notify his next of kin, sir?" Amy asked Provenza. "No, not yet," he answered her and then turned his head to Doctor Morales.

"We need to be 100% on this identification, Doctor," Provenza told him. "Fingerprints don't lie, Lieutenant, but if you want, I could contact the team's dentist and have them send dental records over to my office, and then once he's thawed out, I can compare the dental records to the body," Doctor Morales stated. "Do that," Provenza pointed at him. "But don't confirm the ID with the team," he added and then Doctor Morales left the Murder Room.

Provenza turned around and looked at the board and the rest of the missing persons. "Amy, please return the rest of the possible victims to Missing Persons, and tell Robby O'Derno that we are taking over the case of Michael Anderson," Provenza gave her an order. "Yes sir," she stood up and began to take down what was on the board, placing them back in their respective folders.

"Who would have anything against a hockey player?" Mike asked. "We're about to find out," Provenza muttered. "Flynn, I want his financials pulled," Provenza told him. "On it," Andy stated and then returned to his desk. "Mike, give me everything on this hockey team, coaches, teammates, I want to know who he was," Provenza told Mike and he nodded.

"Julio and Buzz, I need more information on the people that discovered the body. I want to know who they are, what they do for a living, you know the drill," Provenza told them. "Yes sir," Buzz and Julio said in unison and sat down at their desks.

A couple hours had passed and Sharon and Emily were sitting in the family room watching another movie on the Hallmark Channel. "See, I knew you'd be hooked on these movies," Sharon said to her as they sat there watching the ending and seeing that the boy did get the girl in the end. "Oh Mom," Emily laughed as the credits rolled.

Sharon stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Emily asked her. "I just want to see something," Sharon told her and then a minute later Emily heard something fall on the kitchen floor. "Mom?" she called out as she rushed into the kitchen.

She saw Sharon sitting on the floor by the table and rushed over to her side. "Mom!" Emily cried out. "I'm fine, really, I just got a little dizzy and thought I was able to sit down on the chair," Sharon huffed as Emily helped her stand up. "I'm going to call Andy," she said as she helped her sit down on the chair. "No!" Sharon told her. "He's busy with a case. I'm fine," she pleaded with her daughter.

"Andy said if anything happened to you to give him a call, regardless of what he is doing," Emily stated to her. "You've been pretty dizzy lately. Do you think it has anything to do with the medication you're on?" Emily asked her as she sat there. "I don't know, maybe?" Sharon answered and then Emily went over to where the prescription bottles were on the counter and looked at them.

She then pulled out her phone and looked up the pain killer, tramadol, to see what side effects it had. "Tramadol may cause dizziness, it says so on the bottle here," she told her mother. "Maybe that's why the doctor wants you to rest while you are on it?" Emily stood there with her hands on her hips looking at her mother and she started to dial a number.

"Who are you calling?" Sharon asked her. "I told you, Andy," Emily stated and waited for him to pick up the phone.

Andy looked at his phone on his desk and saw that Emily was calling him. He answered the phone right away. "Emily, is everything okay?" he asked her, not wanting to panic yet. "Mom got dizzy and fell on the floor, but she's sitting at the kitchen table now, not wanting me to call you," Emily told him as he swiveled in his chair to face the windows. "Put her on," he told her.

Emily handed the phone to Sharon and she cleared her throat before speaking. "Andy I'm fine, honestly," Sharon told him. "Did you hurt yourself? Are you in pain anywhere?" Andy asked her. "No, I'm not in pain and I didn't hurt myself," Sharon assured him and he sighed in the phone. "What happened?" he asked her. "I walked into the kitchen because I wanted to get my laptop and I felt a little dizzy so I went to sit down on the chair and I missed," Sharon told him and he shook his head.

"Please call up the Doctor's nurse and speak to her. Tell her that you're feeling dizzy. I thought it was just a onetime thing but if you're saying that you're dizzy more times than none, maybe it's the medication you're on?" Andy told her. Sharon was silent for a few seconds before she spoke. "Fine, I will do that," she told him. "Good," Andy replied.

"How's the case coming along?" Sharon asked him, hoping he would let her know something. "We may have ID'd our victim but that's all I'm going to say for now," Andy told her. He swiveled his chair back around and Provenza was looking over at his direction. "I want to make sure you're okay," Andy told her. "I am, I'm not dizzy anymore, and I will call the nurse after I hang up with you," she told him as she eyed Emily. "Please let me know what the nurse says," he said to her and released his breath he didn't know he was holding. "I will Andy, see you tonight," she said and then they both hung up their phones.

Andy rubbed his hand over his face and placed his phone back on his desk. Provenza walked over to Andy's desk. "Everything okay with the Commander?" he asked him, knowing that that's who he was talking to on the phone. "She's been getting dizzy sometimes and she fell down, but Emily got her to sit in a chair in the kitchen," Andy told him. "Huh, sounds like how you were with your blood clot," Provenza told him and Andy shook his head at him.

"I told her to call the nurse and tell her about her dizziness. She told me she would and would let me know what they say," Andy added, worried written all over his face. "She's going to be okay, Flynn," he mumbled to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. Provenza then returned to his desk.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks everyone for the wonderful reviews so far! I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story. Yes, Sharon is stubborn and we will see how that plays out in this chapter...

Chapter 3

Andy ran down the hallway of the Hospital's Professional Building and found Doctor Fishman's office. He opened the door and saw Emily and Sharon sitting in the waiting area of the office. He took a deep breath, trying to catch it, and made eye contact with Sharon. "Andy," she said his name as he joined them. He took a seat next to her and grabbed her hand, holding it in his. "You didn't have to come," Sharon told him. "Nonsense," Andy immediately told her, still catching his breath as she looked at him.

She didn't want to get into an argument in the waiting area of the doctor's office so she let him hold her hand and she waited to be called. "I called and spoke to his head nurse and told her what I was experiencing, she informed the doctor and told me to come into his office for a look-see," Sharon informed him as he sat next to her. She gave a glare towards Emily who was now sitting across from them. "Don't be mad at her," Andy chimed in before Sharon said anything. "She did exactly what I told her to do," he added, brushing a finger through her hair.

"The team just caught a case, surely you cannot be here when they need you," Sharon pointed out to him. "They're fine, like I said to you earlier, we just got an ID on the victim and we're still running some preliminary things. And, we are still waiting for Doctor Morales to perform his autopsy on the body," Andy reassuring her that he was not missing anything important at work.

"Sharon?" she heard one of the nurses calling her name from the doorway. Sharon stood up and Andy followed next to her as they went inside the office. Emily stayed out in the waiting area. The nurse led them into an exam room and closed the door behind her.

"So, how long have you been feeling dizzy?" the nurse asked Sharon. "Uh, well, it's not all the time. The first time I felt dizzy was when I was in the shower, and my husband caught me, that was yesterday morning. I felt dizzy again yesterday afternoon for a brief moment but it quickly went away," Sharon informed the nurse.

"Okay, any dizziness today?" she asked her. "Yes, I felt dizzy earlier this afternoon and I went to sit down but missed the kitchen chair and ended up on the floor," Sharon told the nurse as she typed on the computer in the room. "And Doctor Fishman placed you on Tramadol for pain, correct?" the nurse asked. "Yes," Sharon sat nervously on the exam table.

"Let me just get your vitals here," the nurse said as she took Sharon's blood pressure and temperature and wrote them down. "Okay, sounds like it may be a medication issue but the Doctor will be in here shortly to take a look at you," the nurse told Sharon and Andy and left the room.

Sharon looked at Andy who was in turn, staring at her. "You're doing too much," he muttered to her and she laughed. "Yeah, like sitting around the house being under the watchful eye of Emily constantly while you're at work is doing too much," she laughed it off again but realized that Andy wasn't laughing with her. "I know you're frustrated, and I know it sucks staying at home, not being able to do anything, I know that, first hand," he quietly told her, his eyes looking down at his hands.

She realized right there that this must have been how he felt each time one of his doctors placed him on light duty or rest while she and the rest of the team did the work. She pursed her lips as she sat there, Andy holding her hand. "I'm sorry I'm worrying you," she whispered to him and he looked at her again. He gave her a slight smile and then the doctor walked in the room.

"Sharon, I understand you're feeling a little dizzy?" Doctor Fishman said as he washed his hands before examining her. "Yes," she answered him as he dried his hands. "Okay, is there a certain time of day when you feel dizzy?" he asked her as he felt her lymph nodes in her neck. "No," she stated as Andy let go of her hand so the doctor could examine her more easily. "Is it right after you've taken the Tramadol or does it take a while for the dizziness to occur?" he asked her as he looked in her ears.

"It's not right after I take it," she answered him as he made his way to the front of her. "Okay, I'm going to listen to your chest, just to make sure everything is good there," he told her as he placed the stethoscope on her and listened. "Take a deep breath for me," he asked her and she did. "Alright, lie back on the table, I just want to feel your stomach. I'm not going to press down but I just want to check and see," he informed her before he touched the area of where her spleen was.

"Any pain or tenderness with me touching lightly?" he asked her as he looked at her face. "No," she simply stated. "Okay, good," he told her and walked over to the computer was located and started to type some things. Sharon then sat back up and Andy resumed his holding of her hand. "I do think the Tramadol was causing your dizziness," he told them as they sat there in the exam room.

"How bad is your pain on a daily basis?" Doctor Fishman asked her. "I would say a 3," she told him as she looked at Andy. "That's certainly down from what you were feeling in the hospital," the Doctor said as he typed some more information. "I'm going to switch you to a different pain medication, with a less potential for side effects. It's called Nucynta. It's like Tramadol, but better. I'm going to place you on the lowest dosage available and just take it for pain, when needed," Doctor Fishman informed her.

The nurse stepped back into the room and waited for the Doctor to be finished. "Okay Sharon, I'm going to take a look at your stitches while you're here and I think we'll be good that you don't have to keep them covered," Doctor Fishman stated as he placed a pair of exam gloves on his hands.

"Okay, lie back down again. I'm just going to lift your shirt and take a look again," he explained as he examined the stitches. Sharon took a deep breath as they removed the gauze pad. "It looks very good, healing very well," Doctor Fishman removed the gauze and cleaned up the dried blood. The nurse handed him some antiseptic spray which he used to wipe the area.

Sharon hissed and held her breath as he did this. Andy held her hand and she squeezed it as he watched. "There, all set. You should be good to take a regular shower now, you don't have to keep them covered," Doctor Fishman explained to both of them as he moved over to examine her left arm.

Andy had to release her hand and he moved over to the other side to allow the doctor full access. The doctor repeated the same thing on Sharon's arm. After he was done, the nurse left and Andy helped Sharon sit up on the table.

"I still want you to rest this week and I will still see you for your appointment next week, alright?" Doctor Fishman stood up and shook Sharon's and Andy's hands. "Yes, thank you Doc," Andy told him and then they watched him leave the room. Andy then helped Sharon step down from the exam table.

The nurse knocked on the door again and poked her head in to make sure everything was okay. "Okay, Doctor Fishman wrote you a new prescription, here it is, and you are all set. Any more problems, please call us," she told them as Andy read over the prescription form.

"Uh, just one question. Should she start this medication tonight or tomorrow?" Andy asked the nurse. "If she has pain later on tonight, take the new medication," she told them and Andy nodded.

Andy walked out of the exam room with Sharon and they walked to the front desk area. Sharon stopped there to see if they needed anything else before Andy held the door open for her and they walked out to the waiting area. Emily stood up when she saw her mom and Andy exit into the waiting area. "So?" Emily asked not wanting to push her mom into telling her.

"They changed her medication and the Doctor still wants her to rest as much as she can," Andy told Emily as they all walked out the door of the office. Sharon glanced at her watch and saw it was almost time for Matthew to be picked up.

"I'll go get Matthew from school, Emily why don't you take your mother home now," Andy suggested. "Andy, you need to get back to work, Emily and I can pick Matthew up no problem," Sharon informed him. "Work is fine with me not there right now," he stated back to her as they stepped outside the building.

Andy let out a breath before he spoke. "Emily can you pull the car around while I talk to your mother," he said to her and she left to go get the car. Sharon was standing in front of the building with her arms on her hips, a sight that Andy had missed. However, he did not miss the look that was now coming from her. "You don't have to treat me like a child, Andy. I'm not going to break," Sharon said in her disgusted tone.

"I'm not treating you like a child. I'm concerned about you because you're my wife!" Andy said in a short tone which seemed to make Sharon even more disgusted. "You don't need to handle me, and I don't need a babysitter," she told him as Emily brought the car up. This all sounded so familiar.

"Huh, well it sure seemed like you were lucky you had one today, otherwise who knows what would have happened if Emily wasn't there!" he scoffed and afterwards, realized that this was not the stress that they needed right now. Before Sharon could say a response to him, Andy opened her car door for her and helped her inside.

"I'll see you at home," Sharon muttered to him and he nodded and closed the car door, watching Emily drive off. He shook his head and looked up to the sky and sighed. He made his way to his car and got in. He drove to the local Walgreens where their information was and handed the prescription note to the pharmacist. "Do you want to wait, it'll be a few minutes," the pharmacist told Andy. "Sure," he said as he sat down on the chairs.

Andy picked up Sharon's prescription and made his way over to Matthew's school. As he walked inside the school, Matthew was already waiting for him by the classroom. "Everything okay?" he asked Matthew as he joined him in the hallway. "Yeah, I just figured I would wait for you or Mom by the door," he said as they walked outside. They got in the car and Andy drove them home.

Meanwhile, Sharon and Emily had arrived home and Sharon went into the family room. "What did you feel like having for dinner?" Emily called out to her mother as she walked away. "If there's some sort of chicken in the fridge," Sharon told her as she sat down on the couch. She grabbed the throw pillow and held it close to her. She didn't mean to snap at Andy as they were leaving the Doctor's office. She had heard all of that before, except it was coming from Andy when he was on medical leave.

Andy was about halfway to their house when his phone rang. He lifted it and saw that Provenza was calling him. He placed him on speaker. "What's up?" he said to Provenza. "How is everything?" he asked him. "Uh, well I just picked up Matthew from school and we are heading home," Andy told him. "Any new information regarding the case?" Andy asked him. "No, I sent everyone home. We'll start fresh in the morning," Provenza said and Andy glanced at the clock. It was almost 6:30 now.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Andy told him and then hung up his phone. He pulled into the driveway and opened the garage door. He pulled the car inside and turned it off. He grabbed the new medication from the passenger seat and got out of the car, meeting Matthew on the other side. "Come on," Andy said to him and they walked towards the house.

"You must be really tired Dad," Matthew said as they walked into the house. "Oh, why is that?" Andy asked him as he closed the door behind him. "Because you left for work so early this morning, that's what Mom told me when I came into your room," Matthew said as he took off his backpack and placed it on the hanger and went into the kitchen.

"Hi Emily! Where's Mom?" Matthew greeted her and looked around the kitchen. "She's in the family room, resting a little," Emily told him and he went off in search of her. Andy walked into the kitchen and placed the new prescription on the counter. He saw that Emily was preparing the chicken for dinner. "She's in the family room," she told him. "And no she didn't say anything after we left the doctor's office," she added as if she read his mind. He nodded.

"Need help?" he asked her, not sure if he should see Sharon or not. "I got it Andy, the potatoes are in the oven and I just need to put the breadcrumbs on the chicken," Emily told him as she moved around the kitchen. "Okay, I'm going to take Moxie out then," Andy said as the dog walked into the kitchen. Andy grabbed his leash and Moxie followed him towards the back door.

He stepped out with the dog and wondered how in a matter of hours, they went from happiness to almost bitterness. The last thing he wanted was for Sharon to resent him. She had to have known that all he was trying to do was to make sure she got better. He told her that a million times, it seemed. From when she was in the hospital to their closeness in the family room. He kept walking with Moxie as they made their way down the block.

Matthew joined Sharon on the couch. "Did you have a better day at school today?" she asked him as he sat down. "Yes, I didn't get into any fights today," Matthew said almost sarcastically. "Well, I'm glad to hear that!" Sharon ruffled his hair. "Where's your Dad?" she asked him, almost hoping that Andy would have followed Matthew into the room. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I think he took Moxie outside," he stated.

"Hmm, well, remember how we talked about you going to see Doctor Joe?" Sharon said to him and he nodded. "Well, I made an appointment for you tomorrow at 3:30 for you to see him, just to talk," she told him. "Okay," he shrugged his shoulders and continued to sit there with her. Her mind wondered off to Andy. Deep down inside, she knew that he was only trying to help her. That he truly did care about her and wanted her to get better at any means possible, even if he was driving her crazy.

She knew that if the roles were reversed, she would do the same thing to him. Heck, she did do the same thing to him, when he was recovering from his little dust up with the car, when he had his blood clot, when he had his heart scare, and when he had gotten shot. Perhaps he was right, maybe she was trying to do too much. But, she had a hard time being on the sidelines watching everything unfold before her.

It was her need to be in control of everything, and when she got shot and with the subsequent enlarging of her spleen due to that, she didn't feel in control anymore, and maybe that's what bothered her the most. Not Andy making sure that she was okay and tending to every need that she had while he was trying to make her rest. She needed to regain control, and in order to do that, she needed to get better so that the doctor would release her back to work, or at least light duty.

Andy and Moxie came back around the block and went back into the house. The food was almost ready and Emily was still in the kitchen, but Sharon wasn't there. Matthew had just finished washing his hands and then went to set the table. "Where's your Mom?" he asked them. "She's still in the family room," Matthew told him as he brought the plates over to the table. "Dinner will be ready in 5 minutes," Emily told Andy and he went in search of Sharon.

He found her walking towards him in the hallway and he stopped. She looked at him and he didn't know what to do. He thought about what he would say to her as he walked Moxie around the block but everything he thought about went away as he stood there. "Can we talk?" she spoke to him, breaking the silence and he nodded. She then retreated towards the den and he followed her, closing the door behind them.

The next thing he knew, she was pushing him up against the door and kissed him passionately on his lips. He ran his hands up her sides, careful on her left side as they made their way up her body and into her hair. They broke apart when they both needed oxygen to breathe. "I thought you wanted to talk?" he said, catching his breath. "I do," she answered him as she stood there. She leaned forward and kissed him again.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

Sharon slowly broke apart from Andy and looked at him. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him and he caressed her face with his hand. "Don't be," he shook his head. "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have realized what you were going through, not being able to go to work, being shut out," he told her and then paused for a moment. "That's exactly how I felt when I was on medical leave and light duty," he continued as he looked into her eyes.

"You didn't shut me out, Andy," she whispered to him. "I tried to give you the space you needed, while trying to take care of you at the same time," he told her. She fiddled with his tie as he stood in front of her. "I'm sorry I was hovering over you, I just want you to get better, honestly," he shuddered and closed his eyes. She shook her head slightly at him. "I know," she whispered.

"Mom? Andy? Dinner's ready," they both heard Emily call out as they stood there in the den. "Maybe we can both come to a compromise after dinner?" she suggested as she reached out for his hand. "Oh, what kind of compromise?" he asked her, giving her his grin in return. "Well, I'll let you take care of me in exchange for you keeping me up to date on the latest case," she stated and reached to open the door.

"Wait, how is that a compromise?" Andy asked her and stopped her hand. "It is because when you were on medical leave, sitting at the condo, you wanted to be included in that case we had. I needed you to watch that TV show, and you were very instrumental in that case, and in return, you allowed me to look after you," she smiled at him. Andy narrowed his eyes as he thought about it for a brief second and huffed. "Fine," he agreed to her deal and then they stepped out into the hallway and headed for the kitchen.

Emily watched as her mother and Andy joined them at them table. Emily thought her mom was in a better mood now, better than when they had left the doctor's office. "This looks wonderful Emily, thank you for making dinner for us," Sharon smiled at her daughter as they all started to eat. "Oh, it's not a problem Mom," Emily answered her and then started to eat her dinner.

Meanwhile, across town, two dark figures stood in a warehouse. "The cops found the body," one of them said. "Relax Billy, everything will be okay. They're not going to trace it back to us, besides, when Rocco took over from D'Angelo, he made sure of it," Frankie told him. "I don't know, I don't like it," Billy stated and Frankie was suddenly in his face, grabbing the lapels of his jacket. "Stop freaking out!" Frankie yelled at him and then walked away towards the office.

"Come on! We need to get ready for the game tonight," Frankie called out to Billy who was still standing in the spot he was minutes ago. Billy followed Frankie into the office and grabbed the tables and chairs and started to set things up.

Back at the Flynn household, dinner was over, and the plates and dishes were cleared from the table. Sharon helped Matthew go over his homework in the dining room while Andy and Emily put everything away in the dishwasher. "Thanks for taking your Mom to the Doctor's office this afternoon, and for letting me know, even though I know your Mom told you not to," Andy told Emily as he rinsed off another dish and handed it to her to place in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, she wasn't too happy with me when I told her as we pulled into the parking lot of the office," Emily told him as she stood there waiting for another dish. "Yeah," Andy chuckled as he thought about that. He handed her another dish and she placed it inside. "Um, is everything okay with the two of you? I don't mean to pry but I know she was upset at you when we left the Doctor's office," Emily asked him.

"Yes, we're fine," he reassured her. Emily looked at her watch and noted the time. "Hey, do you mind if I go out tonight? I'm meeting some of my friends from high school. We've kept in touch over the years and when they found out I was in town, well," Emily told Andy. "Oh, uh sure, that's fine with me," Andy said to her, knowing how much of a help she had been to him with Sharon.

"Great!" Emily said and walked into the dining room. Andy finished placing the plates in the dishwasher and closed it. Moxie was right there watching him. "Do you want to eat now?" Andy asked the dog and he started wagging his tail. "Come on," he told the dog and went into the mud room where the food was kept. Moxie followed him there.

"Mom, I'm going to go out tonight and meet up with Cheryl and Diane from high school," Emily told her mother. "Oh, okay. Have fun and be careful tonight," Sharon smiled. "I will," Emily leaned in and kissed her on her cheek. She then grabbed her things and passed Andy, who was feeding the dog. "Bye Andy," she waved to him. "Bye kiddo, have fun and be safe!" he held up his hand as Emily walked out the door.

Andy made his way to the dining room where Sharon was looking over a report that Matthew had written about a book he read. Matthew was sitting across the table with his head propped up by his elbow as he was working on some extra math problems. "How's it going in here?" Andy looked at Sharon and then at Matthew. "Fine," Matthew mumbled as he erased something on his paper and re-wrote the numbers.

Sharon looked at Andy and he in turned, looked at her and she gave him a slight shake of her head. He got the feeling that tonight going over Matthew's homework wasn't going as well as planned. "I'll be in the den if you need me," he whispered to Sharon and kissed the top of her head before leaving.

Andy sat down at the desk in the den and pulled out his notebook that he wrote some notes down about their recent case. He figured if Sharon wanted to know a little about the case, he could at least prepare a summary of what they had so far for her.

An hour later, he heard Matthew run up the stairs and Moxie following him up there. Andy looked up and saw Sharon walking towards him. She looked exhausted to him as she joined him in the den. "Hi," he said as he pushed his chair out and encouraged her to sit on his lap. She did and wrapped her arms around his neck as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"So, I was just working on writing down some things for you to go over, you know, when you're bored out of your mind," he told her and she laughed. She shifted on his lap and leaned forward to look at the computer screen to see what he was working on.

"The victim is a hockey player?" she continued to read what Andy had written. "Yeah, his coach reported him missing when he didn't show up for morning practice a couple of days ago," Andy told her. "Hmm, but how was his body completely frozen? That's quite the task to pull off, especially in southern California," Sharon said as she turned to look at him.

"In order for a body to be completely frozen and not thaw out in the fall season, they'd have to be in a freezer of some sorts," Sharon stated as she kept reading his notes. "The team was up in Bakersfield the day before Michael disappeared playing a scheduled game," Andy said as he watched Sharon. "So, when did the coach report him missing?" Sharon asked.

Andy looked at his notes he wrote down. "2 days ago," he replied to her. "And the body was discovered early this morning in the backyard pool," Sharon stated. "In the Palisades," Andy added. "So why was his body dumped there?" Sharon asked and stood up from Andy's hold. "We don't know," he shrugged his shoulders.

"I ran the financials on the hockey player but I'll get the results tomorrow when I get in to work," Andy told her as she leaned against one of the book cases in the room. He looked at her, concerned. "Sharon?" he said her name, trying to get her to focus back on him. "I'm sorry Andy, I was wondering if Michael left Bakersfield with the team when the game ended or did he leave with someone else?" Sharon posed the question.

"That's a good question," he said as he stood up from his chair and walked over to Sharon. He caressed her face with his hand. "I think it's time for bed, though," he told her instead. "I know I'm beat and I'm sure you are as well," he took her hand and led her out of the den.

"Did Emily say what time she would be home?" she asked him as they walked up the stairs. "No, but I'm sure it won't be too late," he assured her as they made it to the upstairs hallway. Sharon went inside Matthew's room to see how he was doing. He was reading a book in his bed and Moxie was lying next to him.

"Ready for bed?" she asked Matthew as she sat at the edge of his bed. Matthew nodded and closed the book, handing it to Sharon. She placed it on his nightstand and pulled the covers up over him. "Mom, what if Doctor Joe and I don't have anything to talk about?" he yawned when he asked her. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sure you both will find something to talk about, don't worry about that," she smiled and kissed his cheek.

Andy stood at the door frame and watched them interact. He hoped that Doctor Joe would be able to help Matthew with whatever it was that was troubling him so badly. Andy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. He needed a break, that's for sure. After everything that had happened, he desperately needed a break. Sharon turned around and smiled at him as he stood there. He smiled back at her and placed his arm around Sharon as they headed into their bedroom.

Sharon paused a moment before she entered the bathroom. Andy watched her and came up to her side. "How are you feeling?" he asked her. "I feel okay," she smiled, reassuring him as he stood there. "I'll be okay in here," she said and he nodded, giving her some independence as he got himself ready for bed.

She looked at herself in the mirror as she undressed. Her arm wasn't bothering her anymore and she was able to pull her shirt over her head without any issues. She took a good look at the area where the stitches were on her left side. There were only 3 of them, and they were healing nicely. She ran her fingers over them and closed her eyes.

Andy put his pajama pants on along with a t-shirt and waited on the edge of the bed for Sharon to come out of the bathroom. He fiddled with his hands as he waited. When Sharon got better, he was going to take them on a get-away somewhere, he thought to himself. He figured if they got away somewhere, then he'd be able to relax, not have to worry, and maybe then he'd be able to get some much needed sleep.

He stood up from their bed and walked over to the bathroom door, slightly knocking on it. "Sharon? Everything okay in there?" he asked through the closed door. "Yes," he heard Sharon's voice say and then he went back to sit down.

Sharon still looked at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath and put her pajamas on, slipping the silk nightgown over her head and letting it fall onto her body. She opened the door and stepped outside. Andy's eyes fell on her as she walked out. This was the first time since she was shot that she wore that nightgown and his breath caught in his throat.

He knew they couldn't do anything until she was actually cleared by her doctor to return to normal activities, but god was she driving him crazy right now. He pulled on his left earlobe as she walked towards him and smiled. "I thought I would wear this to bed tonight," she whispered to him. He closed his eyes for a second before he opened them again.

"You're driving me crazy," he muttered to her as she stood in front of him. "I'm sorry," she started to apologize and went to grab her robe but Andy stopped her. "No, don't be sorry," he whispered to her as he stood up and kissed her gently on her lips. They broke apart and Sharon got into bed as Andy went into the bathroom.

He thought about taking a cold shower, just to get himself to calm down. If he did that, Sharon would hear the shower running, and he didn't want to make her feel bad about getting him riled up. He decided to splash cold water on his face instead as he stood over the sink. That would have to suffice for now until the morning. He dried his face and stepped out of the bathroom, much calmer than before.

Sharon was laying down on his side of the bed again and Andy moved through the room and got into bed himself. Sharon snuggled into his side and he wrapped his arm around her. He laid there in bed, trying to relax as he held her. He could feel her relaxing and knew she was asleep. The problem now was that he was wide awake.

He laid there with her, trying to relax but everything kept running in his mind and he needed to move. He glanced down at her and her eyes were closed. She looked peaceful to him. How could she be so at peace with him holding her when he was such a mess.

He carefully slipped out of bed so that he didn't disturb Sharon sleeping. He grabbed his phone to see what time it was and if Emily had texted him, but she didn't. He decided to go downstairs, maybe if he drank some tea, it would help him, as it always worked for Sharon.

The house was quiet as he made his way to the kitchen and turned the main light over the table on. He tried not to make too much noise as he went through the cabinets and got the tea kettle out, filling it with water before placing it on the stove. He rummaged through the different types of teas they had in the pantry until he found one that he usually made for Sharon when she couldn't sleep.

The water was ready and before it let out a whistle, Andy turned the stove off and poured the hot water into his mug. He went over to the kitchen table and sat there. He was contemplating going to see a therapist, he needed to do something and keeping everything in was taking a toll on him. He thought that telling Sharon and confessing to her the past couple of days would have helped him, and it did somewhat, but in the back of his mind, it would always be there nagging on him that he didn't protect her.

And now, this whole thing with Matthew and whatever it was that he was going through had weighed Andy even further down than he was. He took a sip from his mug and saw the headlights of a car pull into the driveway. 'That must be Emily', he thought as he sat there.

The back door unlocked and Emily came through the door. She was surprised that Andy was still up and sitting in the kitchen. "Hey," she whispered as she stepped into the kitchen. "Did you have a nice time tonight with your friends?" Andy asked her. She looked over her step-dad as he sat there. "Yes, I did. It was good catching up with them," she told him.

"Where's Mom?" she asked him as she moved through the kitchen. "She's sleeping upstairs," he sighed. "And why aren't you up there with her?" she wondered. " I was, but I couldn't sleep," he shrugged his shoulders as he held the mug on the table. Emily thought about going upstairs but instead, she sat down at the table with Andy.

"You know, Mom's worried about you, not being able to sleep and everything else," Emily told him and he looked across the table at her. "Yeah, well I'm worried about her," he gruffed as he took another sip of tea. "You two are made for each other, you know that?" Emily said as she fiddled with her hands. She never really had sat down and talked to her step-dad, one on one before.

"I'm worried about your mother, that will never change, but now, this whole thing with Matthew acting up, I just, I don't know," he started telling her. "Well, he's 9 and I'm sure you've dealt with 9 year olds before," Emily assumed but Andy shook his head. "Actually, when Nicole and Charlie were 9, I wasn't in their life. Sandra and I were already divorced by then and she wasn't really into sharing custody, especially with a drunk," Andy told her and suddenly Emily understood.

"That kid's been through a lot, and for some reason I feel like I'm somehow failing him too," Andy continued to talk to her. "What? You're not failing him, Andy. Any kid would be grateful to have a dad like you," Emily told him and she saw her mother walking down the hallway, coming towards them.

"Mom, what are you doing up?" she asked her. "I heard voices talking down here and I saw that Andy wasn't in bed so I decided to seek him out," she smiled as she ran her hand over the back of his shoulders. Emily stood up from the table and kissed her mom on her cheek. "I'm going to head to bed now," Emily told them and left the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Sharon asked Andy as she sat next to him. "Just thinking," he told her. "Hmm, you've been thinking a lot lately," she said as she ran her hand over his hand. "Please talk to me," she whispered as she watched him sit there. He looked at her and the walls came crashing down. "I'm still having nightmares and I can't sleep," he confessed as she held his hand. "I know," she simply told him as they sat in the kitchen.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

"Remember how I told you I didn't want to mess up being a foster father when we first found Matthew?" Andy told Sharon as they still sat in the kitchen that night. "Yes," Sharon answered softly, glancing at the clock as she stood up from her chair and sat down on Andy's lap. Andy placed his arms around her, holding her close to his chest.

"And as I recall, I told you, you were not alone and that it would be the two of us taking care of Matthew together," she remembered the scene on her condo's balcony. "Yeah," he chuckled as he thought back to that memory. "I guess we're doing okay so far, right?" he asked her and she pulled back to look at him.

He shrugged his shoulders as she continued to look at him. "Emily told me before you came down that any kid would be grateful to have a dad like me," he told her in all seriousness. "She's right," Sharon whispered and kissed him.

"Am I totally messed up then?" he asked her. "No, you're not messed up, Andy," she tried to assure him. "Then why do I feel like this?" he stated. "Like what?" she asked him. "Like I'm drowning and every time I get to the top to breathe, I get sucked back underwater with something else that happens," he told her and for the first time in a while, she saw despair in his eyes.

"How can I help you?" she asked him as she continued to sit with him. "I don't know," he mumbled as he held her. "Do you want a drink?" she had to ask him. "No, I don't," he took a deep breath. "I've been thinking about talking with someone, a therapist," he looked down at her hands on his arm. "I can go with you if you want me to," she offered, hating to see him like this. He looked lost as she moved his face to look at her.

"Andy, I love you so much," she told him, her voice cracking a little. "And I want to help you in any way that I can," she continued. "And I'm sorry that I've pushed you into telling me about the case when I haven't been cleared yet," she added and he shook his head. "I get that part, I really do, Sharon. You weren't pushing me into telling you about the case," he caressed her face with his hand.

"You need a break," she whispered to him and he nodded his head. "But, I need you to get better," he said and kissed her on her lips. They rested their foreheads together as Andy closed his eyes. She kissed him again, this time with much fervor than before.

"Let's go upstairs," she said when they broke apart from their kiss. She stood up and held out her hand for him to take and he did. She turned off the main light in the kitchen as they walked towards the stairs. They made their way up stairs and back into their bedroom.

Sharon removed Andy's shirt and took off her robe. She held his hand and led him over to their bed. "Lie down," she told him and he did. She climbed in next to him, lying on her right side. He was on his back and she laid her head down on his shoulder. "Please, get some rest," she whispered to him as she drew circles on his chest. He instantly relaxed into her feels and let out a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

The next morning, Andy woke up and somehow, he had ended up in Sharon's arms as she laid on her back. As he lifted his head from her body, he saw that she was already awake. "Morning," she whispered to him. "Morning," he shifted off of her. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked as he ran his hand through his hair. "No," she said as she reached out to touch his face.

He looked over at the clock on her nightstand and the alarm went off. He reached over and turned it off. He sat up on the side of the bed and she shifted up on her right elbow. He closed his eyes as she ran her hand down his back. His body started reacting to her touch.

Andy tried to think of something else as she continued to run her hand up and down his back. He finally stood up and turned around to face her. Leaning down, he kissed her. "I'm going to take a shower," he told her as they broke apart and walked into the bathroom.

She laid there in bed, thinking about what he had told her last night. She heard him turn the shower on and heard the glass door shut. She got herself up and walked over to where her robe was, placing it around her body, she went across the hall and made sure Matthew was up. He was, and she watched him go into his bathroom to get ready for school before she went back to their room.

Andy stood under the cold shower spray, trying to calm his body down from Sharon. His eyes were closed as he stood there. He heard the door open and knew Sharon was going to join him so he quickly turned the water to warm, but moved the dial too far over and almost scalded himself with hot water. "Geesh!" he said as he fixed it quickly.

Sharon shook her head as she reached for the shower door. "Everything okay?" she asked as she stepped in and joined him. He took a deep breath as he watched her and held out his hand for her to take. She felt the coolness of his body underneath her hand and knew that he had taken a cold shower.

"You took a cold shower?" she whispered as he maneuvered her under the water spray which was at a warm temperature. She titled her head back as he watched her. "My body was on fire this morning, I needed to cool it off," he told her as he reached for her shampoo and started to rub it in her hair.

After their shower, Andy got dressed in his suit pants and t-shirt, while Sharon got herself dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a top. She then went into their closet and pulled out a dress shirt for Andy and handed it to him. "Mom! I'm going downstairs!" she heard Matthew call out as she wrapped a tie around Andy's neck.

"I got this if you want to go," he told her as he grabbed the tie from her. She smiled at him and then left their room to head downstairs with Matthew. She was concerned about Andy and what he had told her last night. She went downstairs and stepped into the kitchen to see Matthew leaning up on the counter to reach for a cereal bowl.

"Hey, I could get that for you," she told him as she came right up to help. "Thanks," he mumbled as he took the bowl to the table. He then went to choose a box of cereal from the pantry and brought out the Cinnamon Toast Crunch box and poured it into his bowl. Sharon handed him the milk and he poured it, spilling a little as he placed the top back on the milk carton.

"Sorry," he muttered as he handed the milk back to Sharon. "It's okay sweetie," she assured him as she placed the milk carton on the counter. "So, Emily and I will pick you up from school today at 2:30 and we'll take you over to see Doctor Joe," Sharon told him as she sat down at the table. "Okay," he said as he ate his cereal.

Andy came downstairs and stopped in the den to pick up his notebook before joining Sharon and Matthew in the kitchen. "So, what are we having for breakfast today?" Andy asked as he made his way to the cabinet to get a cereal bowl out for himself. He turned around and saw the Cinnamon Toast Crunch box out on the table.

"Ah, one of my favorites," he smiled as he sat down at the table. Before he could reach for the box of cereal, Sharon stopped him. "Uh no, you are not having this cereal," she shook her head and grabbed the box, getting up from the table and exchanging it for another box of cereal. She handed him the new box. "Raisin Bran?" he questioned her. "Yep, part of your heart healthy diet, remember?" she smiled at him and he sighed. She handed him the milk and he ate his cereal.

After they were done eating breakfast, Matthew went to grab his backpack and Sharon handed him his lunch for school. Andy was moving around the kitchen, putting things away before he left to take Matthew to school. Matthew was playing with Moxie when Sharon walked up to Andy and smoothed his tie down his shirt.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, making sure he was alright. "Yeah," he assured her and she leaned up and kissed him. "Let me know if you call to make an appointment," she told him and he nodded. "We'll be at Doctor Joe's office this afternoon," she told him. "Right," he said, not forgetting that. "Ready kiddo?" he asked Matthew and he stood up from the floor and Sharon followed them to the back door.

"Be good at school," she told him and kissed his cheek. "I will," Matthew replied as he walked out the door with his backpack. "Bye, I love you," Sharon told Andy and kissed him. "I love you too," Andy replied and then joined Matthew.

"Dad?" Matthew said as they both got in the car. "Yeah," Andy looked at him in the rear-view mirror as he started the car. "What is Doctor Joe going to talk about with me?" he asked as he placed his seat belt on. "Oh, well, he's going to want to get to know you, maybe ask you what you like and don't like," Andy said as he pulled out of the garage and headed towards Matthew's school.

"What if we don't talk about anything?" Matthew asked as he looked out the window. "What do you mean by that?" Andy asked him. "You know, if it's silence in the room because there's nothing to talk about," Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, I don't think that would happen. If that did, Doctor Joe would talk. You see, Matthew, he wants to help you. Just like your mother and me," Andy told him.

"I know," Matthew mumbled as he continued to look out the window until they got to his school. "Hey, before you get out, I just want you to know that I love you Matthew," Andy turned around to look at Matthew after he parked the car.

Matthew looked at him strangely. "Are you okay, Dad?" he asked. Andy saw the look on his face. "Yeah, I'm okay," he told him. "Have a good day at school and good luck this afternoon," Andy told him and then he got out of the car. "Bye Dad!" Matthew told him and then walked into school. Andy watched him until he disappeared inside before he drove to work.

When Andy got to work that morning, he turned the car off and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number he hadn't dialed in a really long time. "Doctor Peters, it's Lieutenant Andy Flynn," he said into the phone. "Yeah, it's been a while," he answered the doctor. "Oh, uh Nicole is fine," he sat there listening to the doctor talk to him. "Um, well, I was wondering if you had any openings that I could come in and talk to you about, well about what's been going on lately," he said, nervously.

"Tomorrow night at 7? Um, that should work. We're in the middle of a case right now, but I think that would be fine. Thanks Doctor," Andy said and then hung up his phone. The last time he saw Doctor Peters was when he was going to family counseling with Nicole, Sandra, and Charlie, which was a couple of years ago. He liked him because he already knew what he did for a living and didn't have to go through the whole background again.

He texted Sharon about the appointment he made. 'I can go with you, if you want me to,' she responded to his text message right away. He thought about his response for a moment and then typed it out to her. 'Okay', he sent and then stepped out of the car and headed to the elevators.

When Andy stepped off the elevator onto the ninth floor, Assistant Chief Mason was walking down the hallway. "Ah, Lieutenant Flynn, how are things going?" he asked him as they passed in the hallway. "Uh, fine Sir," he answered him. "And the Commander, how is she recovering?" he wondered. "Um, she's doing okay, thanks for asking," Andy said and then headed towards the office door.

Andy stepped inside and saw that everyone was there, except for Julio. "Julio's running late, something to do with Mark, but we are going to hold a brief in a couple of minutes, Flynn so gather up your information on the financials," Provenza told him. "And a good morning to you too!" Andy shook his head as he went towards his desk and settled in.

Back at the house, Sharon had made herself breakfast and was eating at the kitchen table when Emily came downstairs. "Morning Mom," she greeted her as she joined her at the table. "Good morning sweetheart," Sharon replied as she ate the fruit in the bowl. "How was your evening out with your friends?" she asked as she stood up from the table and walked to the kitchen sink. "Oh, it was good catching up with them," Emily stated as she watched her mother move about the kitchen.

"Is everything okay with Andy?" she asked her when she returned to the table. "I appreciate your concern Emily, but yes he's okay," her worriedness showed through and wasn't fooling Emily at all. "I told him that anyone would be grateful to have him as a father," she mentioned to her. "Yes, he told me that last night," she smiled at her daughter.

"I'm just worried that your falling into a pattern here, Mom," Emily looked at her mom with concern again. "First of all, it's really none of your business what happens between Andy and me. Second of all, please know that I know what's in my best interests when it comes to Andy. It is totally different than what your father and I had long ago," Sharon sternly said to her.

"Okay Mom," Emily backed off from the topic and went about fixing herself some breakfast. Sharon then went to the den to try to busy herself with the notes that Andy had left her regarding their case. As she sat down, she couldn't help but think of how she could help Andy. He told her that he needed her to get better, and she could control that to an extent. She sighed as she turned on the computer on the desk and waited for it to come up.

"Alright everyone, I want to know what we have so far in this case!" Provenza said as he took a seat in the RACR room. The whole team was there now, waiting on him to join them. "Well sir, here is the footage that I took when we arrived at the crime scene," Buzz stated as he played the video. The team watched the video and the different areas of the scene that Buzz had filmed.

"Wait! Pause it for a minute, Buzz," Andy stated and Buzz paused the video. Andy got up from his chair and walked over to the video screen. "Okay, rewind it like a few seconds," he told Buzz and Buzz did. "What are we looking for, Flynn?" Provenza muttered as the rest of the team looked at the screen. "That!" Andy pointed at the screen that now was showing an outdoor clock that was located by the pool.

"A clock?" Provenza wondered what his friend was doing. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but that clock has the same time on it every time Buzz pans the camera around," Andy stated and Buzz played the video again. "He's right Lieutenant," Julio stated. "So, we now know what time the body was dumped there," Mike stated.

"Yes, or that clock didn't work before the body was dumped," Provenza interjected. "We can interview the owners again sir, ask them about the clock if you want," Julio stated. Provenza thought about it for a moment. "What else do we know about the owners of that house?" Provenza asked. "Um, well, he's a board member of a start-up company, works from home, and she's a housewife. They have two kids but they're in college. One's at Oregon State and the other attends Fresno State," Julio told him as he read from the report he worked on yesterday.

"No prior arrests, upstanding citizens' sir," Julio concluded as he looked in the direction of Provenza. "Fine, you and Amy go back to the house and ask them about the clock by the pool and anything else that comes up in conversation," he told Julio and Amy. They both stood up and followed each other out of the office.

"What do we know on our victim?" Provenza then asked Mike and Andy. "Well, he started playing hockey when he was 9 years old. He played for a junior team in California and then he went to North Dakota State on a scholarship to play hockey there. He was drafted by the LA Kings in 2016 and had been assigned to the Ontario Reign ever since. He played left wing on their top line," Mike stated.

"So, was he their star player?" Provenza asked. "According to some local newspapers, he was a star, just not their top star player," Mike added. "How much was his contract for?" Provenza asked and Andy looked through his papers on the guy's financials. "65 thousand dollars," Andy answered him. "Is that a lot for a hockey player?" Provenza wondered. "Well, their salary cap is 70 thousand per season, of course NHL players make more," Andy stated.

"Also, there were some deposits made into his bank account, maybe three different times over the last year. All for the same amount of 100 thousand dollars," Andy added. "So this average hockey player had over 300 thousand dollars in his account? Where did he get this money from?" Provenza questioned. "It looks like the same account number each time," Andy said and handed the paper over to Mike for him to look as well.

"Could it be some sort of trust fund or payment like that?" Provenza asked as Buzz placed the report up on the video screen. "Those transactions are not from a trust fund," Mike pointed out. "They look more like a pay-off," Andy stated. "So who was paying off our hockey player?" Provenza looked at the screen and wondered where this was going to lead them.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews!

Chapter 6

Julio and Amy arrived at the house where their victim had been discovered. They walked up to the steps leading to the front door and rang the doorbell. The door opened shortly thereafter and a woman was standing there. "I thought you people were done?!" she stated to them before they could say anything.

"Um, ma'am, we need to ask you and your husband some more questions," Julio informed her as he glanced at Amy. The woman looked at both of the detectives and stepped to the side to allow them to enter the house. "I'm sorry for my rashness, but I just thought this would be over since you took the dead body from our pool," she stated as she led them to the living room of the house.

"We just have a couple of follow-up questions, that's all," Amy assured the woman. "Please, call me Margie, and this is my husband, Bill," she told them as she gestured for them to have a seat. "Are you two normally home during the day?" Julio asked them. "Well, a majority of the time, yes. I work from home and Margie is a housewife," Bill told them.

"We have a question about the clock outside near the pool," Amy asked and the couple gave them both a quizzical look. "What about the clock?" Margie asked as she held Bill's hand. "We just want to know if it was working prior to the discovery of the dead body in your pool?" Amy asked as she glanced at Julio.

"Yes, it was working that day," Margie answered before her husband could. "I was outside on the pool patio that morning, just fixing a couple of things as the weather had been raining off and on, I remember looking at the clock because I wanted to make sure I was done before my Pilates class at noon," Margie informed Amy and Julio.

"What time was that around?" Julio asked. "Hmm, maybe 10 o'clock?" she answered them as they sat in the living room. "Do you mind if we look at the clock again?" Amy asked them both, they nodded, and stood up. "The pool is this way," Bill stated and showed the detectives the patio door to the outside that was closest to the pool.

Julio stepped outside before Amy and went over to the clock stand. The time on the clock said 10:30 and there was a picture of a moon underneath the hands of the clock. The glass was cracked and the metal frame on the clock was chipped. It looked like it had been knocked over by something or someone.

"So what do you think, Sykes?" Julio looked at Amy as she bent down looking at the clock. "Clearly, this clock has been knocked over," she stated as she turned around to look at Bill and Margie. "I think we should dust it for fingerprints, maybe the people who dumped the hockey player's body here touched it?" Julio suggested.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Andy and Mike were trying to figure out where the large amounts of money that showed up in Michael's financial report came from. Mike was sitting at his desk, running a program on his computer and Andy was leaning against the desk next to Mike's. "If this is truly a pay-off, who would be paying off a hockey player?" Andy asked as he yawned.

Mike looked at him. "You okay, cause you've been yawning a lot lately," he peered over his glasses. Andy waved him off. "Yeah, just haven't been getting much sleep lately," he told him, trying to dismiss his question. "Ah, worrying about the Commander?" Mike added. "Yeah," Andy mumbled but before he could say anything else, the program that Mike was running beeped, alerting both of them to something.

"What do you got?" Andy asked him as he leaned forward to look at the screen. "Looks like the account that this money came from was wired from several locations, probably in order to not be able to trace it," Mike stated as he clicked several boxes on the screen. "But, I think I found where it started," Mike added as he pointed at the screen and Andy watched him.

"Why does that address look familiar?" Andy stated as he looked at Mike's computer screen. "Probably because it is, it's a construction company called Rocco's Construction, and their office is where Ricky D'Angelo's business was located," Mike turned in his chair to look at Andy. "The mob boss that we arrested with the FBI?" Andy stated as everything came together.

"He's still behind bars, but it looks like someone took over the business, changed the name," Mike added. "But still the same type of business," Andy said as he straightened himself up. He looked around the room. "Provenza's still in his meeting with Chief Mason," he sighed as he scratched his head.

"Gambling on sports in California is illegal, so unless they have some sort of ties to Nevada," Mike stated as he stood up and picked up the report he just printed. "I'd hate to involve our federal friends at the FBI," Andy stated as he walked with Mike towards Chief Mason's office.

"We may not have to because it could fall under California law," Mike opened the door to the Chief's office and waved to the secretary at the front desk. They made their way down the hallway and Andy knocked on the door.

"Come in," they heard Chief Mason say and Andy opened the door. He saw Provenza, who was not too happy, sitting across from Chief Mason at his desk. "Lieutenants?" Chief Mason looked at both of them. "Ah, sorry to interrupt your meeting here but we may have stumbled on something bigger than we thought originally," Andy told them.

"What is it?" Provenza shifted in the chair he was sitting in. "We traced the bank account that deposited the money into Michael's account, all over the world, but we narrowed down where it originated," Mike explained as he showed Provenza the report. "It originated here in LA?" Provenza questioned. "Yeah, but get this, the location of where it originated goes back to a Rocco's Construction company, and guess where they're located?" Andy folded his arms as he waited for Provenza to catch up.

"Ah, excuse me Chief Mason," Provenza stood up and walked out of the office with Mike and Andy following him. "Are you sure that this is the location?" Provenza asked them as they walked down the hallway, returning to their office. "Yes, that's where the IP address started, so when I plugged it into my program, it gave us the actual location," Mike explained as he opened the door for Provenza.

"As far as we know, D'Angelo is still behind bars, but it's obviously someone else has taken over the business," Andy commented as Provenza sat down at his desk. "I thought the FBI shut down his business?" Provenza asked as he leaned back into his chair. "Obviously not, or if they did, who's to say it's actually run by D'Angelo?" Mike stated.

"Did Julio and Amy come back yet?" Provenza asked but Andy shook his head no. "Mike, can you run this bank account and see if there are any other transactions from it that seem odd?" Provenza asked him and he nodded as he sat at his desk. "What are you thinking?" Andy asked Provenza. "If this is a sports gambling ring, maybe there are other players in the mix?" Provenza answered him and then turned in his chair to look at the Murder Board.

Later that afternoon, Emily and Sharon were waiting for Matthew to be done at school. They were standing with the other parents who were waiting for their children. The bell rang and the doors opened. Sharon saw Matthew and waved to him as he walked over to them. "Hi, did you have a good day?" she asked him, giving him a slight hug. "Yes," he said and the three of them walked back to the car.

"So, what's going to happen now?" Matthew asked as he climbed into the backseat of the car. "Well, we are going to take you to see Doctor Joe, and you'll be with him for about an hour," Sharon explained to him as he placed his seatbelt on. "Are you going to be there?" he asked her as she got into the passenger seat in front.

"Um, no, this is just between you and Doctor Joe, Matthew," Sharon told him as Emily started the car. Sharon told her how to get to Doctor Joe's office, which was literally across the street from the PAB. Emily drove them and traffic wasn't too bad. "You could park in my spot at the PAB parking garage and we could walk over to his office. It's just across the street," Sharon informed her as they made their way.

"Hmm, how convenient," Emily chuckled, implying that her mom would take any opportunity she could to be close to her work. Emily parked the car in Sharon's spot in the PAB garage and everyone got out of the car.

Sharon's phone alerted to a text message and she saw it was from Andy. 'Hey, just wanted to wish Matthew good luck with Dr. Joe. We've made some progress on the case' his message stated. 'Good, we just parked in the parking garage and are walking over to his office now' she replied back to him and placed her phone back in her purse.

Emily, Sharon, and Matthew walked out of the garage and down the street to where their destination was. Sharon could tell Matthew was a little nervous when they stepped inside the building and headed towards the elevators. Sharon wanted Matthew to bring his backpack with him to the meeting so he was currently holding that in one hand while holding Sharon's hand in the other.

They got off at the 8th floor and walked down the hallway till they reached his office. Matthew stopped Sharon before she opened the door. His face was nervous. "Matthew, either Emily or I will be waiting right here for you, okay?" she assured him as she brushed her hand through his hair. "Okay," he mumbled and they stepped inside the office.

Matthew went over to one of the chairs and sat down while Sharon walked over to the receptionist and checked Matthew in. The waiting room was empty and Emily sat down next to Matthew and read a magazine. Sharon turned around and saw Matthew fidgeting with his hands as he sat there. She sat down next to him. "Everything's going to be okay," she reassured him as they waited.

A few minutes later, Doctor Joe opened the door to the waiting room and greeted Sharon. "Commander, nice to see you again," he shook her hand and then looked at Matthew. "Wow Matthew, you've grown since the last time I saw you," he told him and Matthew just smiled, not saying anything.

Sharon raised her eyebrows at Doctor Joe when he looked back at her. "Don't worry, he's going to be fine," Doctor Joe told her and then asked Matthew to follow him inside the office. Matthew went and waved to Sharon before the door closed behind him. Sharon sat down on the chair and sighed.

She glanced at Emily who was engulfed in the magazine she was currently reading. Sharon was itching to stop by the office to see how her team was doing. She pulled out her phone and texted Andy, figuring if he responded right away, then they weren't busy. 'He's with Dr. Joe now' was all she texted him. She waited for a response, but after five minutes of staring at her phone, she placed it back into her purse.

In the Murder Room, Doctor Morales handed Provenza his report on the frozen body. "He died from blunt force trauma to the back of his head," Doctor Morales told everyone as Provenza handed the pictures to Andy. "With what kind of object, a meat hook?" Andy stated as he handed the pictures over to Mike.

"Hmm, not quite Lieutenant. More like a wooden object, a baseball bat is most likely to be your murder weapon," Doctor Morales stated as he walked towards the Murder Board. "I found traces of wood in the wound on the back of his head," he added and Andy nodded, glancing at Provenza. "So, now we just need to figure out why he was killed and who killed him," Julio chimed in as he sat at his desk.

"Good luck with that!" Doctor Morales stated and then packed up his briefcase before waving to the rest of the team as he left their office. "Alright, so what do we know so far?" Provenza asked everyone.

"The time that Michael's body was dropped off at the house was 10:30 at night," Amy stated and looked at Mike. "I was able to pull a partial print off of the clock and I'm running it now, but so far there's been no potential match," Mike sat at his desk watching the prints flash through his computer screen. "That account that we found only deposited money into Michael's account, no other traces of accounts to other people besides him, however that doesn't mean there isn't anyone else involved," Andy added as he folded his arms in front of him, looking at the Murder Board.

He heard his phone chirp a couple of minutes ago but he had left it on top of his desk while Doctor Morales was explaining what he had discovered on their dead body. "So, are we thinking this was just aimed at this particular hockey player?" Julio asked. "Well, in order to throw a game in the favor of where the bets lie, you would need more than just one player," Andy answered and made his way back to his desk. He picked up his phone and saw that Sharon had texted him again.

He read her text and smiled. She was in overprotective mother mode. 'I'm sure he'll be just fine, relax babe' he replied back to her message and took a seat at his desk. "Is there any way to find out if there had been an illegal gambling sports ring in the area the night Michael was murdered?" Provenza asked as he stood in front of the Murder Board.

"Um, sir, they're called illegal for a reason," Julio chuckled his response. "Ha ha Julio, thank you," Provenza glared at him. "You guys traced the bank account to a local construction company here?" Amy asked them. "Yeah, but, we think it may be linked to that mob boss we handled earlier this year," Andy answered her. "The name of the business is different, but the location is the same," he added noticing that Sharon texted him back.

'How's the case going?' she texted him as she sat in the waiting room, looking out the window at the PAB. Andy scratched his head, contemplating whether or not to tell Sharon about the discovery they made with the possible connection to D'Angelo. 'We traced the account to a local address, and are actively running a partial print', which all were true as Andy sent the message.

Sharon decided to call him instead of texting back and forth. She told Emily she was stepping out into the hall for a minute and Emily nodded. Sharon opened the door and stepped outside as she pressed Andy's name on her phone and it dialed his number.

"Hello?" Andy answered her call. "Hey, am I catching you at a bad time?" she asked him as she stood against the wall. "No," he said, glancing at his watch to see the time. "Matthew's not done with his session is he?" he asked her. "No, he's still in there, maybe a half hour more?" she told him as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, noticing the hitch in her voice when she spoke. "I'm fine," she smiled. "I just wanted to know what else the team discovered," Sharon said but Andy was hesitant. "Uh, you're not supposed to be worried about work," he told her. "Are we going to go through that again, Lieutenant?" she clamored over the phone.

Andy rolled his eyes as he stood up and went into Sharon's office, closing the door behind him for privacy. "You promised a compromise," she told him. "Yes I know I did promise you that and I have been keeping you in the loop throughout the day today," Andy stated as he started to pace in her office. "So, tell me about the location of where the money came from," Sharon asked him.

Andy sighed into the phone and shook his head. She was stubborn. "Okay, fine, but you have to promise me that you will relax after Matthew is done with Doctor Joe," he asked her, knowing she would have a hard time with that bargain. "I'll try," she quietly said over the phone. "That wasn't the answer I was looking for," he told her as he stopped and sat in front of her desk.

Meanwhile, inside Doctor Joe's office, Matthew had a seat on the couch and Doctor Joe was currently sitting across from him. "So, Matthew, how are things going?" he asked him. "Um, fine I guess," Matthew answered as he fiddled with his hands. "Your mom and dad seem to think something is bothering you," Doctor Joe told him and Matthew just sat there, looking at his hands.

"Hmm, how about I go through a list of what might be bothering you and you tell me yes or no," Doctor Joe stated after watching Matthew's silence for a couple of minutes. "Okay, let's start with your siblings, Ricky?" he asked him. "No," Matthew replied as Doctor Joe went through his list. "Moxie?" Doctor Joe asked him. "No," Matthew chuckled and Doctor Joe was glad with the response he was getting from Matthew.

"How about your parents? Are they what's bothering you?" he asked Matthew and Matthew shifted on the couch and just nodded yes. Doctor Joe leaned over in his seat. "What's bothering you with them?" he asked him. Matthew was silent at first and Doctor Joe could see tears welling up in his eyes. He wasn't going to push Matthew into telling him and he waited for Matthew's response.

"I'm afraid they're going to leave me just like my birth mother did," Matthew mumbled as a tear came falling down his cheek. "Have you spoken with them about this?" Doctor Joe asked. "They told me that they have different jobs than other mom's and dad's at my school, and that they will always love me, but after mommy got shot, I was just so scared," Matthew confessed but Doctor Joe could tell he was holding something back.

"It's alright to be scared, Matthew, especially since both your parents are police officers. But I think there's something else going on. Your mother told me that before she got shot, you had failed one of your math tests and didn't want them to know about it," Doctor Joe told him and Matthew's face turned beet red. "She did?" he muttered, feeling embarrassed.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, believe it or not, it happens a lot of times," Doctor Joe reassured him. "Did she tell you I forged my dad's signature on the test?" he asked him. "No, but thank you for sharing that much with me," Doctor Joe said and Matthew buried his head in the throw pillow next to him. This was going to take some time.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews!

Chapter 7

Provenza noticed that Andy had been in the Commander's office for a while now. 'Maybe they're discussing Matthew?' he thought to himself as he knew that Matthew was seeing Doctor Joe today. Andy had told him that when they broke for lunch earlier.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but I don't want you jumping to conclusions right now," Andy gave in to her as he sat looking at her nameplate on her desk. "We traced the account to a Rocco's Construction company here in LA," Andy told her. "So, what's the big deal about that?" she asked him. "They're located in the same place as D'Angelo's business was located," he told her but before she could speak he kept going.

"Now, that doesn't mean that he's involved in this, I mean, he's still in jail, Sharon, under solitary confinement," he stated and heard silence on the other end. "I know, I know, but I didn't think I would hear his name again," Sharon sighed as she rubbed her temple with her free hand. "I'll tell you more when I get home tonight, okay?" Andy asked, not giving her an option anymore. "Fine," she took a deep breath and then glanced at her watch.

"Matthew should be done soon. I was kind of hoping we could go out to dinner as a family tonight, if you don't think you'll be late?" Sharon asked him as she made her way back towards Doctor Joe's office. Andy turned around in the chair he was sitting in, seeing everyone sitting at their desks. "Uh, Chief Mason hasn't authorized overtime for this investigation, Provenza couldn't convince him, so I think we should be done at a decent time," he told her, smiling at the end.

"Good, see you in a bit then," Sharon said and hung up her phone. Sharon then stepped back inside the waiting area and sat down next to Emily. Emily looked up at her mom as she had a worried look on her face now. "Mom? You okay?" she asked her. "Yes, um, when we are done here, we are going to stop by the office and wait for Andy to be finished, then we are going to go out for dinner together," she brushed her hand through Emily's hair.

Emily was a bit skeptical what her mother had just told her but she figured if she had just spoken to Andy, which she was pretty sure her mother just did, then it must be okay to stop by the office.

"Matthew?" Doctor Joe waited until Matthew sat up. He needed him to open up about what was really bothering him. He had scratched the surface when Matthew stated that he was afraid Andy and Sharon would leave him like his birth mother did, but he knew something else was there. He decided to try playing a game to get him to open up more.

"Do you play chess like your brother Rusty?" he asked him as he moved the chess board over to the table. "Not really, Rusty tried teaching me one day but I couldn't get the hang of it," Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Okay," Doctor Joe looked around the room for something else. "Hmm, how about Connect Four?" he suggested as he brought that over to them.

Matthew looked at the game as Doctor Joe sat down across from him. "Do you know how to play this?" Doctor Joe asked as he placed the bag of red and black checkers on the table. Matthew shook his head no. "Well, it's simple, you place the checkers inside the yellow square, like tic-tac-toe, except you want four in a row," Doctor Joe explained.

"How about we play a practice game first?" he suggested and Matthew moved closer to the table. "Okay," Matthew muttered and picked up the black checkers. "Alright, place your checker in whatever slot you want to start off with," Doctor Joe told him and Matthew did. They both placed their checkers in the slots and Doctor Joe ended up winning the practice game.

"Do you get the hang of it?" he asked Matthew as he dumped the checkers out of the board and got ready to play a new game. Matthew nodded and now looked determined to win the next game. "So how about each time you place a checker in the slot, you tell me something that I don't know about you?" Doctor Joe hoped that this would help Matthew.

Matthew placed the first checker in the slot. "I like baseball," he muttered as it was now Doctor Joe's turn. "Oh, I like baseball too, what's your favorite team?" Doctor Joe asked him as he placed his checker in the slot. "The Dodgers," Matthew answered as he placed another checker in a different slot. "Hmm, that's a good team, but I was always partial to the Yankees," he told Matthew.

They played the rest of the game, each time Matthew saying something to Doctor Joe until Doctor Joe placed the last checker in the slot to connect four of his checkers and winning the game. Matthew sat there, and sighed. He really wasn't liking this game too much anymore. "We can play one more game before you leave today," Doctor Joe told him as he dumped out the checkers from the board and set everything up again.

Matthew sat there as Doctor Joe arranged the game one more time. "I want to be red now," he thought if he changed colors it would bring him better luck. "Okay, here you go," Doctor Joe gave him the pile of red checkers. "But this time, I start off," Doctor Joe added, giving Matthew a quizzical look to see what he would do on the defense.

They played the game again, and Doctor Joe won a third time. This left Matthew upset and a little mad. "Matthew, I really enjoyed our session this afternoon and I would like to see you tomorrow after school if that's okay with you," he told him as Matthew placed the checkers back in the bag. "Please don't be upset about this game, with a little more practice, I'm sure you will be beating me at the game in no time," he assured Matthew as they both stood up and walked over to the door.

Matthew stepped out into the waiting area and saw Emily and Sharon waiting for him just like she promised. Matthew walked over to Sharon with his head down. Sharon tilted her head to catch his eyes as he walked over to her. "Everything okay?" she asked him quietly. Matthew nodded but didn't say anything.

Sharon looked at Doctor Joe. "We're making some progress but I'd like to see him again tomorrow afternoon, same time if that's alright with you," Doctor Joe informed Sharon, not divulging any other information to her. "Um, yes, that's fine with me. Is that okay with you, Matthew?" she turned to ask the boy. Matthew nodded and then stepped back so that Sharon could stand up.

"Thank you," Sharon told Doctor Joe as Emily started for the door with Matthew. "No problem, Bye Matthew! I'm looking forward to our talk tomorrow!" he waved as Matthew left and Sharon walked behind the two.

Sharon watched Matthew walk slightly ahead of her with Emily as they headed down the hallway to the elevators. "So, was it okay?" Sharon asked him once they got inside the elevator. "Can we buy the game Connect Four?" he asked her as the elevator made its way to the ground floor. Sharon thought that was a strange request.

"Why do you want to buy that game?" she asked him as the elevator slowed down. "Because Doctor Joe and I played it at the end and he won three times," Matthew grabbed Sharon's hand as they all stepped off the elevator. "Huh, how many times did the two of you play that game?" Emily asked as they made their way outside of the building. "Three times," Matthew muttered.

"Well, we can certainly stop on the way home and purchase that game if you'd like," Sharon smiled at him as they started to walk back towards the parking garage of the PAB. "But, first, I'd like to stop by the office and check on a few things," she said and Emily looked at her mother.

"You can't be serious?" Emily protested as they walked down the block. "The team is in the office, working on the current investigation, and all I would be doing is sitting down at my desk just for a briefing that's all," Sharon quickly tried to smooth things with her daughter's objection. Emily narrowed her eyes as she looked at her mother while they were waiting to cross the street.

"Does Andy know you are stopping by?" she asked her as the light changed and they started walking again. "I spoke with him earlier, and I suggested that when we were done at Doctor Joe's office, that we all go out to dinner as a family, I told him we would see him in a little bit. I don't think there will be any harm if we wait for him to be done up in my office," she informed Emily as they made their way to the front of the PAB building.

Emily held the door open for Sharon and Matthew to walk inside. Sharon then took her ID out of her purse and flashed it to the police officer at the front where the special entry was for law enforcement. She then turned to Emily and Matthew and saw they were both behind her. "These are my children, they're with me," Sharon informed the officer. "Sure thing, Commander," the officer said and waved to both Emily and Matthew.

"Hello," Emily was polite enough to the officer but she was really having her patience tried by her mother at the moment. "So you also just conveniently happen to have your work ID as well with you?" she asked her as they stood by the elevators. "I always carry my ID with me," Sharon smiled as they stepped inside the elevator. Emily rolled her eyes as Matthew pressed the button for the ninth floor.

The elevator doors opened on the ninth floor and Sharon made her way towards the office, stopping before she got to the door. She turned and looked at Emily and Matthew. "Matthew, if you want to get a snack in the break room, you are more than welcome to. Emily can go with you," she said to them and Emily shook her head. She knew her mother wanted the both of them far away if there was fallout from Andy once he saw her step into the office.

Emily huffed and took Matthew towards the break room. Sharon watched them walk down the hallway before she opened the door and stepped back inside the Murder Room. As she walked in, she saw Provenza sitting at his desk reading over a file, while Andy sat at his desk looking at his computer screen. Mike and Buzz were discussing something over at Mike's desk as she made her way towards the center of the room.

Andy happened to look up at the same time Sharon made her way closer to the middle. "Sharon?!" he said in a loud manner, and stood up from his desk, which then got the attention of everyone else there. "Commander! What brings you in here so soon?" Provenza asked her and then glared over at Andy, who looked equally surprised and mad at the same time.

"We were down the street at Doctor Joe's office and I thought I would stop by and see how everyone was doing," she informed them, trying to ignore the glare directed at her from Andy. "Oh, fine, just as long as you are not here to work, I mean, that would be against your doctor's orders, as you're not cleared yet," Provenza reminded her.

Andy walked over to Sharon. "I thought you were going home after Matthew's session was over?" he asked her, quietly. "We were, but then I thought we could stop by here, and wait for you to be done, and then go to dinner together," Sharon told him and then played with his tie, which he had loosened during the day.

"I knew this was a bad idea compromising with you," he muttered as she turned away from him and walked into her office. Andy followed her inside with Provenza close on his heels. "Where's Emily and Matthew?" Andy wondered as he walked over to the front of her desk. "Break room, getting Matthew a snack," she answered him as she sat down on her chair.

"Look, I'm not here to work, I just want to know what's been going on with this case so far," she started to say to both Provenza and Andy. "Now, I asked Andy to keep me in the loop and he has been telling me little pieces here and there," she added and Andy hung his head when she said that to Provenza. "Oh really?" Provenza shot his glance to Andy.

"What? It's not against the rules!" Andy defended himself. "Look, Lieutenant Provenza, while I'm here waiting for the team to wrap up tonight, just think of me as a sounding board. Run ideas past me and I'll tell you what I think," Sharon looked at Provenza and then at Andy. She wasn't sure if the two of them would buy that. The truth was she had been itching to get out of the house and go somewhere other than Matthew's school. When they drove Matthew to Doctor Joe's office, she had come up with this idea in her head.

"You're not officially here," Provenza reminded her. "Of course not, Lieutenant," she smiled and leaned back in her chair. Provenza stood there and thought about something before he started to speak. "I will allow this because you allowed Flynn here to act as a liaison when he was recovering from his dust up with that car two years ago, but mark my word, Commander, if I for one instance see that being here is detrimental to your health, I will send you home!" Provenza informed her.

"Don't worry about that, Lieutenant, I have my own watchdog on that assignment already," she glanced at Andy who gave her a scowled look. "So, please, tell me what has been going on so far," she gestured for her two Lieutenants to have a seat in front of her desk and they reluctantly did.

Andy sat there staring at Sharon as Provenza explained what they had discovered so far with this latest case. "And Chief Mason won't budge on the overtime cap, something about a budget crisis!" Provenza added and Sharon smiled. "Why Lieutenant, are you not enjoying being in charge of this team during my medical absence?" she questioned as she hid her laugh with her hand in front of her face.

"In charge, yes, but speaking with the boss to discuss budgets and caseloads, no, that's not what I enjoy doing," Provenza grumbled. Andy was being quiet during the briefing and Sharon knew why. "Did you notify next of kin? The coach who reported him missing?" Sharon asked them. "No, not yet. I wanted to make sure we had a positive ID before we started notifying everyone," Provenza answered her.

"Well, since you do, I suggest you start notifications, starting with his parents. Where do they live?" Sharon asked. Provenza looked at Andy and when he didn't say anything, he tapped his arm with the back of his hand. "Sacramento," Andy cleared his throat. "Call the local police, have them do the notification," Sharon suggested. "The hockey team is from Ontario. We can drive up there tomorrow morning, interview the coaching staff and the rest of the team, see if anything stands out," she added.

"We?" Andy, hung up on the word Sharon accidently used. Sharon sighed. "I meant you guys, or whoever you want to send, Lieutenant," she corrected herself. "Now, I want to know more about D'Angelo's possible involvement," Sharon waited for her Lieutenants to tell her more.

"Alright, we don't know if he is directly involved, but we were able to trace back the account that deposited the money into the account of the hockey player. It goes to a Rocco Construction, which is located in the same building as D'Angelo's business. Now, I thought that the feds would have closed that building down so that other businesses couldn't be housed inside," Andy informed her.

Sharon stretched her neck to get a kink out. "Did you notify the FBI and ask them?" she asked. Andy and Provenza glanced at each other. "No," Provenza mumbled. "Well, how are we going to find out about this?" Sharon asked them with a little more anger in her voice. "We didn't want the feds involvement yet, because since sports gambling is both and state and federal crime, they're could take over and then we'd lose everything we've found so far!" Andy told Sharon and she closed her eyes for a brief moment.

"Fine," she said after a minute and opened her eyes. "Any other players involved on the team?" she asked as she leaned back in her chair. "Buzz is running that as we speak," Provenza informed her. Just then, Mike knocked on her door and then opened it. "Commander, nice to see you," he greeted her before showing Provenza what he discovered.

"What is it?" she asked them. Mike looked at Provenza and he nodded to him. "The partial print that we found on the broken clock at the house where the body was discovered came back to a match to William Genovese, aka "Billy"," Mike stated and handed Andy the fingerprint report. "He's got a rap sheet for possession, money laundering, mob action," Andy read and then looked across the desk at Sharon.

"Do we have a last known address?" Sharon asked them. "1337 Crenshaw Boulevard, it's a townhouse," Mike answered her. "I'll secure a warrant, you guys go see if Billy is home," Sharon said to them. Provenza and Andy stood up and Provenza followed Mike out the door. "What about dinner plans?" Andy asked her. "It's fine, I'll go get Emily and Matthew, and we'll bring something home and then you can eat it when you get home later," she smiled, standing up and moving in front of him.

"Just be careful," she whispered to him and fixed his tie. He leaned down and kissed her lips. "We'll discuss this later," he told her and she nodded, watching him leave her office and then watching her whole team leave the Murder Room to pick up this Billy person. She picked up her phone and dialed Judge Grove's office for the warrant.

Within ten minutes, the warrant was being faxed to her office and she took a picture of it, sending it to Andy on his phone. She gathered her purse and walked out of her office, placing the hard copy of the warrant on Provenza's desk and exited the office. She walked down to the breakroom and saw Matthew doing his homework, while Emily was talking on her phone.

She opened the door and stepped inside. "Change of plans, I'm afraid," Sharon spoke to her children and ran her hand through Matthew's hair. "Let's pick up something and bring it home," she stated and Matthew started packing up his backpack. "Daddy's not joining us?" he asked her. "No, sweetie, he's going to be working a little later than planned," Sharon told him and then kissed his forehead.

"Can we still stop at the store and buy that game?" Matthew asked Sharon as they walked down the hallway to the elevators. "Of course we can," she told him as they stepped onto the elevator and went down to the parking garage where her car was located.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

The team was on their way to the last known address of Billy. Provenza was driving and Andy was in the passenger seat of the Ford Explorer when he received Sharon's text message. "Sharon got our search warrant, sent a picture of it for us," Andy muttered as Provenza continued to drive. "Did you know she was coming into the office this afternoon?" Provenza asked him as they stopped at a stop light.

"No, I was just as surprised as you!" Andy told him and glanced out his window. "Was I ever that bad when I was on medical leave?" he asked him and Provenza chuckled. "No, you were worse!" he sneered and then started to drive when the light had changed. Andy glared at him and shook his head. "What are you going to do about the overtime situation?" he asked.

"Better to ask for forgiveness than permission," Provenza muttered to Andy as they pulled up outside the townhouse complex and stepped out of the vehicle. Andy met up with Julio and Amy while Provenza was talking to Buzz before they went up the stairs of the townhouse. "I want you to stay close to me, got it?" Provenza pointed at Buzz. "Got it sir!" Buzz acknowledged and then followed the rest of the team.

Andy was the first one to the door. He turned around to make sure everyone was ready before he knocked on the door. They waited a few seconds and Andy was going to knock again but stopped as he heard someone starting to open the door. "Hello?" the woman answered the door when she opened it. "Hello ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Flynn of the LAPD, is William home?" he asked her as she glanced behind him at the others standing there.

"No, he's not," she stated to him, looking at him in his eyes. "Are you related to him?" Andy asked her. "Yes, he's my husband," she answered him. "Do you know where he is?" Andy asked her as he looked behind her at the room to see what he could see. "No. Look, what is this about? Has he done something wrong?" she inquired. "No ma'am, we just need to talk to him about something that occurred a couple of nights ago," Andy informed her.

"We also have a search warrant to search your house," Andy told her as he showed her the warrant on his phone. "Please step aside," he instructed her and then Julio and Amy walked into the house, followed by Mike. "Is anyone else home with you?" Provenza asked her. "No, the kids are at basketball practice," she told him as she stood there, clenching her arms to her chest.

Buzz followed Provenza as he moved into the house. "I only want you to film if we find any evidence," Provenza told him as he followed Mike. Mike was standing next to a desk in the living room, looking through papers that were scattered on top. That's when they all heard a noise coming from upstairs. Andy turned around to look at the woman. "I thought you said no one else was home with you," he asked her but she didn't answer him.

Andy glanced at Provenza and they started to go up the stairs while Amy and Mike went up the back stairs, and Julio went out the back door. "Buzz, stay here!" Provenza shouted to him and he nodded. "LAPD! Stop!" Andy yelled as he made his way to the top stair and saw a guy trying to climb out the window. "Hey! Stop I said!" he yelled again and grabbed the guy by his waist and pulled him back inside.

Amy helped Andy secure the guy as Andy held him against the wall. "Hi Billy, we were looking for you," Andy smiled at the guy and the guy mumbled something in Italian. "What did you just say?" he looked at him, inching closer to his face. Billy smiled at Andy and spat at his shoes, which caused Andy to shove him up against the wall.

"Flynn!" Provenza yelled and Andy eased off of Billy. Amy and Mike then took Billy down the stairs, passed the wife and out the door where two patrol officers were waiting. "Hold him for us," Amy told the patrol officers as she placed him in the back of the squad car.

Provenza handed Andy a Kleenex to wipe his shoe off from where Billy spat. "What did he say to you?" he asked him as Andy bent over. Andy stood up and looked at his friend. "He called me a pig, in Italian," he smiled. "What is it with you and these guys?" Provenza asked him. "I don't know," Andy shrugged his shoulders and started to look around upstairs.

Provenza then called down the stairs for Buzz to come up there and meet them. "Yes Lieutenant?" Buzz ran up the stairs. "Start filming up here, I want to know what Billy was doing, hiding up here from us," he informed Buzz and then headed back down the stairs.

He moved to the wife who was now sitting in the living room. "Mrs. Genovese, I'd like to know why you lied to the LAPD about where your husband was," Provenza calmly stated to her. "I didn't know he was upstairs," she answered. Provenza huffed at her response. "What did he do exactly?" she asked as she held herself on the couch.

"Well, we just wanted to bring him in for questioning, but when he attempted to go out the upstairs window, we arrested him for evading the police," Provenza explained to her and she nodded and took a deep breath. Provenza then left her to attend to see what Mike had discovered by the desk.

"What did you find?" he asked Mike as he joined him. Mike held up some hockey information. "Bag it and call SID to come out here," Provenza rubbed his head as he took a look around.

Meanwhile, Emily, Sharon, and Matthew had stopped at the Target near the house. Emily was browsing through the clothing section, while Matthew went straight to where the games were located with Sharon closely following him. Matthew looked on the shelves to find the connect four game and saw that it was on the top shelf.

Sharon rounded the corner of the aisle and saw Matthew standing there looking at the game. "I can get it down for you," she smiled and reached up to grab the box. She handed the game to Matthew. "Anything else you need while we are here?" she asked him as they walked back to join Emily. "Um, no," he answered after he thought through everything.

Sharon placed her arm around him as they walked over to where Emily was looking at some clothes. "See anything you like?" Sharon asked as they came up behind her. "Oh, I was just looking at some of these yoga pants," Emily shrugged her shoulders and Sharon could tell her daughter was still reminiscing about her dancing dilemma.

"Have you heard back from the Los Angeles Ballet yet?" she asked her daughter as they walked towards the check out. "Yes, I have an audition this Friday," she smiled and Sharon was so happy. "What?! When were you going to tell me?" Sharon hugged Emily. "I was going to tell you but then you fell down and the doctor's visit," Emily rattled off.

Matthew watched them as he stood next to Emily. "When did you fall down, mommy?" Matthew asked. "Matthew, sweetheart, don't worry about that, okay?" Sharon reassured him as she ran her hand through his hair. Matthew huffed and they made their way to the checkout lane and Matthew placed the game on the belt.

Sharon paid for the game when the cashier rang it up. Matthew grabbed the bag from the cashier and all three of them walked back out to the car. As they got inside, Matthew again asked Sharon about her falling down. "Matthew, I know you're worried, but don't be. I'm fine, and the doctor changed the medication I was taking, which was causing me to be dizzy," she softly told him as he put on his seat belt.

"Now, more importantly, where should we grab something to eat?" Sharon asked as she sat in the passenger seat. "Is Rusty joining us?" Emily asked as she started the car. "He told me earlier that he had a late court meeting with Andrea today, and that he was probably going to grab dinner at the courthouse," Sharon told her as they drove out of the parking lot.

Back at Billy's townhouse, the team was searching the different rooms for more evidence as Buzz was filming. Andy was looking through some paperwork in the bedroom upstairs, supposedly where Billy was hiding when they first came to the townhouse. "Either this guy is a complete idiot or something else is going on," Andy gruffed as he held up the papers to show Buzz.

The papers looked to be betting slips and listed all of the hockey games that the Ontario Reign had played in the past and future games. "The question is was this guy working alone?" Andy mumbled as he didn't expect Buzz to give him a response. He bagged all of the papers that he discovered on the dresser.

"Lieutenant?" Buzz called out as he was inside the closet in the room. Andy walked over to him and saw what Buzz was pointing at in the corner behind the clothing. "I think I found the murder weapon, sir," he spoke to Andy as he walked over to where Buzz was pointing. "Damn," Andy sighed and reached for the bloodied baseball bat with his gloved hand. Andy made sure Buzz got the discovery on video before they left the room, both of them making their way back downstairs.

"Found betting slips and other paperwork upstairs in the bedroom," Andy informed Provenza and Mike as he held up the bag in one hand and the baseball bat in the other. "And we also may have found the murder weapon," he mumbled to Provenza. Provenza closed his eyes and sighed.

"Good," Provenza told Andy and then turned to the wife who was still sitting on the couch. "Ma'am, was your husband working with anyone else? Did you ever see anyone else with him?" Provenza asked her.

"No, he didn't talk about his work or what he was doing," she told him and paused for a minute. "Does he need a lawyer?" she asked and Provenza hesitated. "Actually ma'am, your husband has to be the one to ask for a lawyer," Mike chimed in as he saw SID officers starting to arrive. He wanted to alert them to what they needed.

"Come on Flynn, let's meet Billy back at the office and try to sort through some of this mess with him," Provenza started towards the front door. "Here's my card, ma'am. More than likely your husband is going to be sitting in jail," Provenza informed the wife and walked out the door. Andy followed behind him and placed the evidence he was carrying in the car they drove over.

"If this guy beat our hockey player to death, I want to know why!" Provenza got in the driver's seat. "Yeah," Andy muttered as he pulled out his phone and texted Sharon to tell her that he was going to be late. The rest of the team followed and left the house, leaving SID there.

Sharon and Matthew were inside Mario's Italian restaurant when she received Andy's text message. She sighed as she read his message. 'Got Billy as he was trying to evade us, also found possible murder weapon' was what he had sent her. 'Okay, be careful, just getting food from Mario's, I love you' she responded back to him. "Flynn?" one of the workers called as the order was ready.

Sharon turned around and walked to the counter. "Yep, thank you!" she told the worker as she took the pizza box and the bag of food and Matthew held the door open for her. Emily was waiting in the car and saw the two of them walk out. She got out of the car and helped her mother with the food. "I got it Em," Sharon smiled and Emily opened the car door for her.

Once everyone was inside the car, Emily started to drive them home. "Andy's going to be later than he thought," Sharon told her. "Oh, but I wanted to play my new game with Daddy when he got home," Matthew chimed in before Emily could say anything. "Well, after we eat, I can play the new game with you and then you can show him later," Sharon told him as he looked out the window.

The team arrived back at the PAB and Billy was waiting for them in one of the interview rooms. "I'll set up everything for interview room 2," Buzz stated as he walked into the Electronics room. "I'll take our possible weapon to the lab," Mike stated and grabbed the baseball bat from Andy. "We're going to need to sort through these betting slips as well," Andy suggested. "Sykes and I can do that sir," Julio took the bag from Andy.

Andy walked over to where Provenza was standing by the Murder Board. "So how do you want to play this?" he asked him. Provenza stared at the board for a minute. "This all seemed too easy, finding Billy there and also the murder weapon?" Provenza stated. Andy shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe he's a dumb criminal?" Andy answered him.

Provenza turned to where Julio and Amy were sitting. "Once you guys are done with those, let one of us know in the interview room. Come on Flynn," Provenza looked at Julio, Amy, and then at Andy as he walked towards the interview room where Billy was sitting.

Andy opened the door and greeted the two patrol officers who were watching Billy. "Thanks guys," he told them as they left the room. Andy turned and smiled at Billy who was staring at him. Andy had a seat and Provenza sat down next to him. "Well, Billy, looks like you are in a lot of trouble here," Provenza stated as he pretended to read his file.

Billy didn't say a word, just stared at Andy. Andy stared back at Billy. He didn't like him one bit. "What's the matter? You're not talking now?" Provenza asked Billy but he still didn't answer. "Okay, that's fine with us. We will just go over some facts of this case out loud between the two of us," Provenza stated and turned to look at Andy.

"Yeah, like how about the fact that we found this guy's finger prints on the pool clock in the backyard of that house in the Palisades," Andy said as he pointed his thumb towards Billy. "Right, and how we found the murder weapon in his house," Provenza added as he glanced at Billy. "What! Hey Man! What are you talking about?" Billy shouted and started to stand up from his chair.

Andy stood up and pointed at him. "Sit down!" he yelled at him and Billy did. "Now you're going to tell us why we found your fingerprints at the crime scene, and why we found the murder weapon in your house," Andy sat back down. Billy looked at him and then at Provenza. "I'm not saying anything until I get a lawyer," Billy stated.

Provenza tapped his fingers on the table. "Okay Billy, we'll get you a lawyer, sit tight while we call one," Andy told him and stood up again, waiting on Provenza to walk out of the room. Andy glanced back at Billy before he followed Provenza out of the room. The two patrol officers went back inside the room to watch him.

"Now this gives us time to follow up on a few things," Provenza stated as he walked back to his desk. "Anything on the betting slips?" Andy asked Julio and Amy. "We compared the slips to the hockey schedule of our dead hockey player. It looks like they were betting on all of the games that the team played, but here's what's interesting, Michael got injured early in the season, the team was 10 and 2 with him out on injury. As soon as he came back to playing on the team, the team is 3 and 10," Julio explained to them.

"So, that would coincide with our theory that Michael was being payed to throw the games," Provenza added. "Yes, but, a couple of weeks ago, when Michael was playing, the team went 5-0," Amy stated and passed the information card over to Andy. "So maybe Michael changes his mind about throwing the games, and Billy and someone else go to the away game in Bakersfield to confront him?" Andy scratched his head.

"Maybe?" Provenza looked through what Julio was showing him about the slips and the schedule. "This is a lot of money changing hands," Provenza stated and then sat down at his desk. "The only problem sir, is that we don't know who is a part of this gambling ring," Julio added. "That's not the only problem, Sanchez," Provenza looked at the Murder Board as he turned around in his chair to face it.

Back at the Flynn house, Sharon, Matthew, and Emily were all eating dinner. "So, Matthew, I was wondering if you wanted to talk about what Doctor Joe said to you today," Sharon said sweetly to him as he took a bite of his pizza slice. "Uh, I don't really want to now, Mom," Matthew quietly responded. Sharon smiled at him and glanced at Emily who was eating her salad.

"I'd like to practice my dance moves later on tonight if that's okay with you, Mom," Emily said as she continued to eat her salad. "Oh, I have no problem with that," Sharon was happy that her daughter was getting back into dancing again and hopefully her interview and tryout for the Los Angeles Ballet company will go well and she could move back to LA. Well, Sharon could hope that would happen, as she thought about it.

Sharon placed the left over vegetarian lasagna in the container as everyone cleared the table from dinner. "Wrap the left over pizza in foil please," Sharon informed Matthew as he was carrying the pizza box to the counter.

Sharon stood up from the table and brought the left over container to the fridge. She would warm it up later for Andy, depending on how late he was going to be. All of the dishes were in the sink and Emily rinsed them, placing them in the dishwasher. "I'm going to feed Moxie now," Matthew called out as he went to the mud room and Moxie followed him there.

Sharon noticed that Matthew still hadn't come out of the mud room and could hear Moxie pushing his dish around the floor. Emily went into the family room so she decided that she would go see what Matthew was doing. She peeked around the corner and saw Matthew sitting on the floor with Moxie laying down next to him. Matthew was petting the dog and the scene before her just brought tears to her eyes.

"Hi," Sharon knelt down across from Matthew. "Hi," he mumbled as he continued to pet Moxie. "You know, if you're ready to play Connect Four now, I just happen to be free at the moment," Sharon said to him as she wanted to get him to open up. "In a little bit," he replied and she nodded. "If you're worried about breaking your confidence with Doctor Joe, you don't have to be, Matthew, because you can always tell me or Daddy whatever it is that you need to tell us," she told him again.

"I know, I just," he took a deep breath and then continued. "I feel like I broke your trust, Mommy, when I lied to you and Daddy about my test, and then covered that up with not telling you about forging Daddy's signature," he told her as he looked down at Moxie. "Oh, sweetie, you didn't break our trust. I'm sorry that you felt that way," Sharon reached for him and Matthew scooted over to where she was kneeling.

Sharon held him and closed her eyes. Matthew eased into her hug and wrapped his arms around her neck. It would take some time but at least it was some progress, Sharon thought.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 9

Provenza's phone rang at his desk and he reached over to answer it. "Lieutenant Provenza, Major Crimes," he said into the phone. "Provenza, it's Tao," Mike said on the other end. "Why are you calling me on my desk phone?" Provenza wondered. "You weren't answering your cell phone," Mike stated and then Provenza looked at his cell phone and saw the missed calls from him.

"Anyway, I'm at the morgue. Doctor Morales said that the baseball bat is definitely our murder weapon as the blood pattern matches the back of Michael's head. Plus, the lab stated that the blood types match as well," Mike informed Provenza. "Good, that's good news. We're just waiting for this guy's appointed lawyer to show up so he can start answering our questions. Be here as soon as you can with the results" Provenza told Mike and then hung up his phone.

"How come my cell phone didn't ring?" Provenza called out to anyone who was listening. "Probably because it's on silent, sir!" Julio informed him as he grabbed Provenza's cell phone and switched the tab over from silent mode. "Hmm, wonder how that happened?" Provenza mumbled to himself.

Andy walked back into the Murder Room from the break room where he was holding a cup of coffee. "Does the Commander know you're drinking coffee again?" Provenza asked him as he stood up from his chair. "Don't worry, it's decaf," Andy muttered as he sat down at his desk. "And yes, she knows," he added as he went through some of the reports on the betting slips.

Amy hung up her phone. "Lieutenants, Billy's lawyer is here and is in the interview room with him," she informed Provenza and Andy. "Good, maybe we can finally get somewhere tonight!" Provenza walked over to Andy's desk and waited for him to get the paperwork ready.

Provenza and Flynn walked back into the interview room where Billy was sitting. "Ah, Jennings, nice to see you again," Provenza muttered to the lawyer as he took his seat in the room. "Always a pleasure Lieutenant," Jennings stated back as he wrote some things down on his notepad. Andy then took his seat at the table.

"So, I understand you found some evidence linking my client to a murder of a hockey player?" Jennings asked the two Lieutenants. "Yeah, it's called his fingerprints and the murder weapon," Andy stated as he tapped his finger on the table.

"Where were my client's fingerprints found exactly?" Jennings asked them. "At the crime scene, where he dropped off the body that was frozen," Provenza answered him. "You see, Jennings, your client here bashed the head of a hockey player in and then stuck the guy in the freezer. A short time later, he and another person moved the body and dumped it in a backyard pool in the Palisades," he added and watched Billy sit across from him.

Billy was staring at Andy the whole time Provenza was speaking. "So you're saying my client didn't act alone?" Jennings asked just to be clear. "We know Billy here didn't act alone, because it took two people to carry that hockey player in that yard, and when the pool clock was knocked over, Billy here picked it up with his bare hands, leaving his fingerprints on it!" Andy gritted his teeth as he stared back at Billy.

"Where did you find the so-called murder weapon, Lieutenants?" Jennings asked them. "When we went to your client's house, and found out that his wife was lying to us, and that he was home the whole time. That's when we caught him trying to escape through an upstairs window," Provenza stated. "My wife didn't lie!" Billy shouted and Jennings turned to him, trying to calm him down.

"Oh, I think we hit a nerve there!" Andy stated as he glanced at Provenza. "I would say so," Provenza looked at Billy. "My wife doesn't know anything, so leave her out of this," Billy stated and then Jennings conferred with him while Provenza and Andy waited for them to be finished.

"As you have suspected, my client wasn't working alone," Jennings stated. "Big shock there!" Andy quipped back. "In exchange for telling you who he works for, we would like a reduced charge," Jennings added. "Reduced charge! From what, murder to?" Provenza asked him. "Voluntary manslaughter," Jennings stated and Andy laughed. "You're kidding right?" Andy asked and looked directly at Billy.

"Mr. Jennings, as you well know, we don't lessen the charges, that's up to the DA's office," Provenza told him. "But, if your client here feels like cooperating, then maybe we could put in a good word for him," Provenza added as he glanced at the clock in the room. It was now getting closer to 8 o'clock at night and they needed to wrap this up before Chief Mason found out that they were all on overtime.

Buzz was sitting in Electronics along with Julio when Chief Mason walked into the room. "I heard you all might still be here," he grumbled as he entered. Buzz went to work the microphone to alert Provenza that he was there but Chief Mason stopped him. "Don't alert the Lieutenant, Buzz," he told him and they continued to watch the scene.

"I work for Mister Rocco, he owns a construction business downtown," Billy started to tell them. "So, you're in construction?" Provenza asked him. "No, I run a side job for Mister Rocco, sports gambling, and that's what I was doing, I gather the sports bets from a bunch of Rocco's clients and we make a little money on the side," Billy told them.

Andy sat back in his chair. "Who ordered you to murder Michael Anderson?" he asked Billy. "No one," Billy replied. "So you just killed him on your own?" he asked in disbelief. "No, you got it all wrong. You see, Frankie and I are in charge of gathering the bets, you know in a small warehouse down by the railyards," Billy stated but then he stopped talking.

Provenza and Andy both looked at Billy, waiting for him to start talking again. "Uh, I said too much already," Billy mumbled and sat there. "Billy, who is this Frankie guy? Who ordered you to kill Michael Anderson!" Andy yelled but Billy didn't say anything else. Andy was now getting mad and glanced over at Provenza.

"Mr. Jennings, your client agreed to cooperate! Please compel him to do so, otherwise we will arrest him on murder charges, just on the basis that we found the murder weapon at his house and his fingerprints at the crime scene!" Provenza informed Jennings. Jennings turned to Billy and whispered to him. "You do know that those charges won't end well," he said to him.

After about two minutes of silence, Andy had enough and stood up from his chair. "Listen to me, you little prick! You are either going to continue the conversation we were having, or else I'm going to arrest you and you can spend the night in jail, up to you," Andy grinned at Billy. When Billy still didn't say anything, Andy threw his hands up in the air and looked at Provenza.

"Fine, Billy, you can spend the night in jail," Provenza stood up and Andy walked over to where Billy was sitting and grabbed him under his arm and stood him up. "Turn around and face the wall, place your hands behind your back," Andy told him and he complied. Andy placed his handcuffs on him and walked him out of the room. "Sorry, Lieutenant, I'd hope he would have cooperated with you," Jennings shrugged his shoulders as Provenza watched him leave the room.

Provenza shook his head and met Julio in the hallway. "Uh, sir, Chief Mason is in Electronics," Julio told him as he went with Andy down to booking. "Great," Provenza mumbled and rolled his eyes. He stepped into Electronics and saw that Chief Mason was speaking with Buzz. "Chief Mason, what can I do for you?" he asked him.

"Well, you can tell me why the team is still here, way past cut time after I told you there was no room for overtime in the budget," Chief Mason asked Provenza. "Ah, well we were about to finish up for the day when Lieutenant Tao ran the fingerprints we found at the crime scene and got a match. We secured a warrant, and decided to go find Billy at his residence, and then one thing led to another and here we are," Provenza explained to him.

"As soon as Lieutenant Flynn and Detective Sanchez come back from booking your suspect, I want everyone to go home, got it?" Chief Mason told Provenza and he nodded. He then left the room, leaving Buzz and Provenza. Provenza ran his hand over his face. "I don't know how the Commander deals with the Chief," he muttered and Buzz chuckled at his remark.

Provenza walked out of Electronics and saw that Amy and Mike were both at their desks. "Detective Sykes, are you almost finished here?" Provenza asked her. "Uh, I was just waiting to hear back from the coaching staff of the hockey team," Amy answered him and scrunched her eyebrows as she looked at him. "Yeah, well that is going to have to wait till tomorrow morning," Provenza told her.

Provenza sat down at his desk as Mike gave him a concerned look. "Chief Mason is ordering us to go home, so we are going to have to put everything else on hold till tomorrow," Provenza explained and Mike nodded.

"Chief Mason was pretty upset with the Lieutenant, sir," Julio informed Andy as they took Billy down to booking. "Oh really?" Andy stated as he moved with Billy out of the elevator and down the hallway. "Last chance Billy, before you spend the night," Andy stopped just short of the door to booking and glanced at Billy.

"Pig," Billy mumbled as they stood there. Julio glanced at Andy as he heard what Billy just told him. "What did you say?" Andy got in his face but Billy just smiled. "You seem like a tough guy all of a sudden, huh?" Andy added and looked him in the eyes. "Yeah, real tough!" Julio chimed in. Andy shook his head and grabbed Billy by his arm again.

"You're not worth it," he told Billy as he moved him through the door and in front of the booking Sergeant. "What's the charges, Lieutenant?" the Sergeant asked him as he filled out the paperwork. "Book him on murder and evading the police," Andy told him and turned around to face Julio. "One of those will stick," Andy muttered and then moved Billy through the booking process.

Meanwhile, Sharon and Matthew were sitting at the kitchen table playing the Connect Four game for the fifth time in a row. Sharon had won twice and so had Matthew. "I think you're getting the hang of this game now," Sharon told him as she placed her checker into a slot. "Are you going to be okay, Mommy?" Matthew asked as he stopped to look at her before he placed his checker in a slot.

Sharon gave him a look as he sat across from her. "Yes, of course I'm going to be okay, Matthew. I'm healing and seem to be on the right medication now, so yes I am okay," she smiled, trying to reassure him. "When are you going back to work?" he asked her. "Well, I go see the doctor again on Monday and hopefully he will release me back to work then," Sharon said as she placed another checker in a slot.

Matthew sat there, staring at the game and Sharon wondered what their youngest son was thinking. "Matthew, are you worried about something, other than what you told me earlier tonight?" she asked him as she reached over and held his free hand. "I don't want you to die like my other mom did," he mumbled to her, quietly but she still heard him.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm not going anywhere for a long time, don't you worry about that," Sharon told him and wondered what had brought that on all of a sudden. "Sweetie, what made you think of that?" she asked and even though he wasn't their son by blood, he was starting to develop similar traits of Andy. Like how she knew when to push Andy in order to get him to tell her certain things, she was quickly finding out the same with Matthew.

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I guess when you were in the hospital, it just made me think of that," he mumbled and Sharon nodded. "Okay," she glanced at the clock. "Why don't you go get ready for bed and I'll read you a story when you're done," she patted his hand and he got up from his chair and went upstairs, Moxie following him like he always did.

Sharon was putting the game pieces away when Emily walked back into the kitchen. She walked over to the refrigerator and got out an orange. She always had an orange right after she worked out on her dance moves. Sharon smiled at the memory of her daughter's first dance recital as she watched her peel the orange. Emily saw her mom smiling for no reason. "Everything okay?" she asked her as she ate a slice of the orange.

"Between us, yes. I'm still worried about Matthew though," Sharon told her. "Hmm, don't be Mom, he'll be just fine," Emily told her and then retreated back to the family room.

Andy and Julio arrived back in the Murder Room and both went to their desks. "Okay, everyone, we have been ordered to depart for the night. We'll pick up tomorrow morning and figure out who Frankie is and who else may be involved," Provenza told everyone.

Andy opened his desk drawer, glanced at Croelick's folder as he reached in to grab his keys. He closed the drawer and sighed. It had been a long day and he still had to have a conversation with Sharon about her showing up at the office earlier today. He was not looking forward to that. "Good night!" he said as he left the office and headed towards the elevators.

He stretched his neck and rubbed the back of it as he waited for the elevator. Provenza caught up with him and stepped inside the elevator with his friend. "So did you give Chief Mason hell?" Andy asked him as the elevator took them down to the parking garage. "He didn't give me much of a choice," Provenza grumbled as they stood there. "I'm not sure if I entirely trust him yet," Andy muttered.

"How so?" Provenza asked as the doors opened and they stepped out. "He's not Taylor and definitely not Howard, but I don't think he has enough investigative experience," Andy told him as they walked towards their cars. "Not that I trusted Taylor in the beginning, but," he shrugged his shoulders and Provenza patted him on his back.

"Get some sleep, Flynn. See you tomorrow. And try to keep the Commander at home, please?" Provenza told him as he walked towards his car, which was a couple down from Andy's car. "Yeah," Andy said to himself as he folded his tired body into his car and drove home.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews!

Chapter 10

Sharon had read Matthew a bed time story and felt like they were making some progress with him, after one session with Doctor Joe. She knew something else was bothering him but figured with him seeing Doctor Joe again tomorrow afternoon, maybe he would open up to her and Andy again. Sharon made her way to their bedroom and got herself ready for bed.

Emily stopped outside of her mother's room and saw her standing in the middle of the room. "Mom?" she whispered and Sharon turned around. "Oh, honey, is everything okay?" she asked her. "Yes, Mom, I'm just wondering about you?" Emily gestured with her hand and Sharon waved her off. "I'm good," Sharon walked towards her daughter and gave her a hug.

"Thank you for everything that you've done for me so far while being here," Sharon whispered to her and she smiled. "You're welcome, Mom," Emily had a tear in her eye as she pulled away. "I'm going to go to bed now," she added and then walked down the hallway to the guest room. Sharon took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom to continue getting herself ready for bed.

Andy pulled his car into the driveway and opened the garage door, pulling the car inside and turning it off. He sat there for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts before climbing out of the driver's side and walking towards the house. A part of him was hoping Sharon was still up waiting for him, but the other part of him was hoping she was asleep because he knew that she needed her rest.

He walked through the back door, closing and locking it up behind him and made his way into the kitchen. He stood by the island counter and saw that Sharon had left him a note, telling him about the food that she left in the oven for him. He smiled and walked over to the oven, opening the door and instantly smelling the lasagna that was waiting for him.

He loosened his tie before taking out the leftover container of lasagna and placing it on top of the stove. He fixed himself a plate and placed it in the microwave to heat it up. He turned around and walked over to the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of water from inside. He placed the bottle on the table and returned back to the microwave as it had alerted that his food was ready. He took his suit jacket off and rolled up his sleeves.

Andy sat down to eat his food and heard someone coming down the stairs. He knew it was Sharon without even looking up as he took a few bites of the food on his plate. "Hi," she whispered to him as she joined him in the kitchen. "Hi," he chewed his food and swallowed as he watched her sit down next to him. "How was Matthew's time with Doctor Joe?" he asked her.

"I think it went well," she shifted in her chair. "He opened up to me a little bit after dinner and we played a new game that he had played with Doctor Joe, Connect Four," she told him as she watched him eat. "That's good to hear," he said as he chewed his food.

"I know you're mad at me for showing up at the office earlier today," Sharon told him as she caressed his left hand. He turned it over and she placed her hand in his. "I'm not mad, just worried about you," he sighed as he ate. "I'm feeling much better, and my side hurts less," she smiled at him as he ate his food. "Well, that's good," he told her as he placed his fork down on the table.

"Sharon, sweetheart, I," he started to struggle with his words as they sat at the kitchen table. Sharon shook her head. "I know I should have told you that we were stopping by when I had you on the phone earlier, but I knew you would protest it, and I thought there was no harm in stopping and sitting in my office, while we waited for you," she rambled as she played with his left hand.

"What if we had a suspect there and things got out of hand, and you got re-injured? I wouldn't be able to take that," his voice was raspy. She watched him sit there. "Andy, you can't keep me hidden away forever, and eventually the doctor will clear me to return to normal duty, hopefully on Monday," she added and looked at him.

"I know that, believe me, I do. But, god Sharon!" he looked up towards the ceiling. "It could have been much worse. I could have lost you and I don't know what I would do if that ever happened!" he looked back at her and she stood up. "Are you done eating?" she asked him and he nodded. She took his plate and placed it in the sink, returning back to him as he watched her.

She reached down for his hand and held it. He stood up and they walked upstairs to their bedroom. Sharon closed their door and Andy turned around. He took a ragged breath as she stood in front of him. "Andy, I know it's difficult to send someone that you love into potential harm's way every day. I do that with you. And sometimes I have difficulty with that, but I know that's part of the job and I've learned to deal with it," she caressed his arms as he stood there.

"When you've gotten injured over the years, I was afraid of losing you to a suspect or whomever else you encountered. I had my reservations, recently, after you had gotten shot, about returning you to active duty, and I wanted to keep you safe. I thought that the only way to do that would be to keep you on desk duty, even after your doctor released you," she confessed to him and he reached for her pulling her into his chest. He never knew this and she never told him until now.

"After you had your blood clot surgery, and you were recovering at the condo, I saw how much you wanted to be on your own, wanting to go back to work, and wanting to get back into the field again," she told him as she looked into his eyes and caressed his face with her hand. "Thank god your doctor didn't release you until much later," she chuckled and he did as well.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. "Why are you sorry?" she shook her head and wondered. "Because I keep telling you I know what it's like and what you're going through, being sidelined, watching everything and not being able to participate in the job that you love. And then I try to keep you away," he told her and she shook her head again.

"I know you don't need a knight in shining armor to come rescue you, you're more than capable of doing that yourself," he whispered. "And besides, my armor is a little dull," he added, jokingly and she smiled. "Sometimes it is nice to be rescued," she admitted as they both stood there.

She looked down for a moment at their feet and looked back up at him. "Andy," she whispered but he interrupted her. "And then you drive me crazy and I want to make love to you but I know we can't yet because you're not cleared by your doctor, and that's why I took a cold shower this morning," he took a breath and she smiled.

They stood there in their bedroom. "I know I have a lot of things I need to work through and I'm hoping Doctor Peters can help me tomorrow night," he told her and she nodded, knowing that this discussion they just had was just the beginning. She must have given him a sad look because he reached down and kissed her on her lips.

"I know you want to help me with that, and you are," he whispered as they broke apart. He lifted her chin so that she looked into his eyes. He then kissed her forehead and headed into the bathroom to get himself ready for bed. She stood there, wrapping her arms around herself, as she watched him retreat into the bathroom and closed the door.

She wiped a tear from her eye and then slipped into their bed and waited for him to be finished. He stood in front of the mirror, hands on both sides of the sink, and looked at himself. He had stubble coming in on his face and his eyes were tired. He brushed his teeth and turned the light off. He stepped back into their bedroom and saw that Sharon was already lying in bed. He quickly changed his clothes in their closet and joined her.

"You know, you slept better than you had in days when I held you," she told him as he slid in behind her, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her neck and she turned around to face him. "Let me hold you and you can tell me about the case after I left," she ran her hand through his hair and he moved over her and settled in on her right side instead.

He laid his head down on her right shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. "We went to Billy's residence and spoke to his wife. She told us that he wasn't home but as we took a look around, we heard a noise coming from upstairs. We get up there and there's Billy trying to climb out the window. I grab him and pull him back in. We then find the murder weapon in a closet in the bedroom, along with betting slips and papers," he told her as she caressed his back.

"He asked for a lawyer after Provenza and I spoke to him back at the office. He rattled off some names after his lawyer came and we're holding him now overnight," he yawned and settled his hand over her stomach. He closed his eyes and his breathing evened out. Sharon held him and listened to him but the next thing Sharon knew, she heard him lightly snoring. She snuggled closer to him and fell asleep herself.

The next morning…

 _Andy must have been dreaming because he found himself outside on a busy street in downtown LA. He was walking with Sharon and Matthew and they got to a park. Matthew ran ahead of them and started to play on the swings. They had a seat on a bench and were watching him when Bill Croelick showed up. "What the hell are you doing here?" Andy yelled but it seemed like only he could see him. He glanced at Sharon who was busy watching Matthew and then he looked to see where Matthew was. He shouted but nothing came out. "Sharon," he called out to her but she didn't hear him. Croelick walked closer to him and he went for his gun but he didn't have it. He again called Sharon, trying to get her attention to no avail. Croelick was struggling with Andy. "I'm going to watch them burn and so are you," Croelick sneered at him. Andy landed on his back. He watched Croelick get closer to Sharon and he screamed to warn her._

Sharon woke up to Andy mumbling something in his sleep. He was lying on his back and his right hand was on his stomach but his left hand was over his head. Whatever dream he was having, he was not happy, Sharon determined as she sat up and tried to wake him. "Andy, Andy," she whispered to him as she lightly tapped his body. Andy jerked up and looked around, his eyes finally focusing on Sharon. "What happened?" he asked as he tried to catch his breath. "You were dreaming, mumbling about something," she told him as she rubbed her back.

He ran his hand across his face and through his hair. Yeah, he was dreaming alright he thought to himself. "Thank goodness," he muttered under his breath as he got his bearings and looked at Sharon. "Want to tell me about it?" she asked him as they sat up in their bed but Andy shook his head. "No," he said breathlessly.

She was a little shocked by his answer right away. She ran her hand down his face and cupped his chin. He closed his eyes for a second as he melted into her touch. He re-opened his eyes and looked into her green ones. "It was weird and I don't want to re-live it," he shrugged his shoulders, assuring Sharon that he was okay. He pulled her in for a hug and then slowly lowered himself back on the bed, pulling her with him.

They settled back down, with Andy holding Sharon now. She relaxed into his embrace and closed her eyes. He turned his head to glance at the clock, noting that it was closer to five o'clock than he thought. He took a deep breath and lied there, holding her, while he looked up at the ceiling.

His alarm went off an hour later and he blinked a couple of times before he reached over to turn the annoying noise off. Sharon stirred in her sleep as she felt him move under her. She slid off of him, allowing him to sit up and eventually to stand up and get ready for work. Sharon sat up and sat on the edge of their bed. She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and made her way into their closet.

"Did Billy give you a last name of this Frankie person?" she asked him as she watched him go through his suits. Andy decided to go with his black suit and greyish shirt, so Sharon picked his black and grey striped tie for him to wear with it. "Uh, no, only his first name," Andy told her as he passed her and went into the bathroom. "So we're not really sure if we can find him then?" Sharon followed him in the bathroom and watched him get undressed.

He turned the shower on and stepped inside of it, closing the glass door. "I'm sure we'll be able to find him. Mike is working on getting a staffing list from the construction company," he shouted over the water as he took a shower. Sharon sat down on the bench next to the sink and waited for him to be done. "Who's going to interview the coaching staff?" Sharon asked over the noise of the shower.

Andy opened the glass door slightly and had one eye closed as shampoo was running down from his face. "Provenza and I were going to do that, and yes, before you ask, I already told him that I have a meeting at 7 tonight and need to be back no later than 4," he told her and rinsed his head.

"Well, at least you're not taking a cold shower this morning," she mumbled to herself as she saw the mirror starting to fog up from the steam of the shower. Sharon moved towards the shower door with a towel. The water turned off and Andy stepped outside, taking the towel that Sharon offered him. She breathed in his scent and hummed. "You smell nice," she smiled and kissed his lips.

He was careful not to drip any water on her as she stood there. He moved his hands up to her arms and held her. They broke for air and she patted his cheek with her hand. "I'm going to get Matthew up so you can get dressed without any distractions," she smiled and slowly retreated from the bathroom. Andy took a deep breath as he watched her leave him and reluctantly, started getting himself ready for work.

Sharon walked into the hallway and saw that Matthew's door was already opened. She glanced down the hall to see if the bathroom was occupied but the door was open and the light was off. She moved closer to his door and pushed it open. The light was on but Matthew wasn't in the room nor was Moxie. Sharon wasn't going to panic just yet as she made her way down the stairs to the first floor.

She saw the kitchen light over the table was on and heard some noises coming from the room. As she came closer to the kitchen, she saw Matthew standing up next to the island counter and he was playing the Connect Four game by himself. Moxie was also there, sitting down next to him.

"Matthew!" she whispered loudly to him which startled him. He turned around and saw his mom standing at the entrance looking at him. His eyes went wide and he thought he was in trouble. "Sorry?" he told her as she came closer to him. Moxie stood up and wagged his tail as Sharon made her way over to Matthew.

"You don't need to be sorry," she ruffled his hair. "How long have you been down here playing that game?" she asked him as she leaned on the island counter. "Maybe a few minutes?" he shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, why don't you go upstairs and get yourself ready for school, okay?" she shooed him out of the kitchen and Matthew went back upstairs, without Moxie.

Moxie looked at Sharon who was putting the game away in its box and watched her place the box back where the games were kept in the mud room. Moxie followed her there and kept wagging his tail. "Do you need to go out?" she asked the dog and he got excited. She turned around and unlocked the door, switching on the backyard flood light as she let the dog outside. Moxie ran into the yard and did his duties. Sharon kept a watchful eye on the dog as she stood by the door.

Moxie was sniffing around and Sharon called out to the dog. "Come on Moxie! Breakfast time!" she called and Moxie came running back towards Sharon as she opened the door. Moxie stood in the mud room waiting for Sharon to make his breakfast and then quickly ate all of his food.

Sharon walked back into the kitchen and decided to make everyone breakfast so when they came down, they would have a hot meal waiting for them. She took out the eggs and bread from the refrigerator and grabbed the frying pan from one of the cabinets. She was startled when she heard Emily's voice in the kitchen. "Mom, what are you doing?" she asked her.

Sharon looked over at her daughter who was standing by the kitchen table. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making everyone breakfast," she told her as she tended to the eggs that were cooking on the stove. "I know that, but you shouldn't be doing that," Emily shook her head. "And, how were you able to get at the frying pans without bending down?" Emily asked as she held her hands on her hips.

"Oh, big deal! So I bent over and picked out the frying pan from the cabinet," Sharon stated and rolled her eyes. She walked over to the toaster and placed the toast on a plate as she continued to move around the kitchen. "You know you're not supposed to do that, doctor's orders, no bending over!" Emily read the rules to her.

"Emily Raydor! You will not treat me like I'm a child!" Sharon pointed the spatula at her daughter and Emily held up her hands. She walked over to grab some dishes from a cabinet and then placed them on the table.

Upstairs, Andy was shaving his face when he saw Matthew out of the corner of his eye walk slowly into the bathroom. Andy turned and looked at him, shaving cream on his face still. "Hey buddy!" he said as he turned to continue shaving. "Hi," Matthew mumbled as he watched his dad for a moment.

"Something wrong?" Andy asked him as he wiped his face with a towel. "I just, wanted to tell you," Matthew said as he shuffled his feet. Andy saw him struggling with his words, just like he had done last night with Sharon. "Hey, you can tell me anything," Andy assured him as he placed the towel on the sink.

"I'm really sorry about not telling you or Mommy about my test, and about forging your signature," Matthew stated and then took a deep breath. Andy looked at him. "We went through this already, bud. I told you I forgave you, and I didn't want you doing it again," Andy patted Matthew's shoulder as he walked over to where his dress shirt was hung up.

"I know, but I feel like I betrayed your trust and I don't want you to think that you and Mommy made a mistake," Matthew watched Andy put on his shirt. "A mistake, what kind of mistake?" Andy asked him as he tucked his shirt in. "Of adopting me," Matthew mumbled. "Alright, stop right there!" Andy told him.

"Matthew, I thought your mom and I went over this with you before?" Andy got down to his level so that Matthew could look in his eyes. Matthew shrugged his shoulders and then looked at the floor. "Look at me," Andy sighed and moved Matthew's chin with his hand. "You're not a mistake," he told him and Matthew nodded.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 11

Andy and Matthew made their way downstairs to breakfast already waiting for them on the kitchen table. Sharon was standing by the island counter, cutting up fruit when they came into the room. Andy smiled at Sharon and she returned his smile as he came up behind her. "Good morning," he whispered as he kissed her neck.

"Hmm, good morning," she said as she cut up more fruit and placed them in a bowl. "Go, eat, before it gets cold," she told him and grabbed the bowl of fruit, placing it on the table. "Um, actually, I need to talk to you about something," Andy scratched his head and Sharon nodded, leaving Emily and Matthew at the table. She followed Andy towards the den.

"What is it?" she looked at him, concerned. "Did Matthew speak to you last night about his session with Doctor Joe?" Andy asked her. "Oh, yes, he told me that he thought he had broken our trust, but I told him that he did not," Sharon glanced at the kitchen and then looked at Andy. "Hmm, he said the same thing to me this morning," he told her.

"What else did he tell you last night?" he asked her. "Well, he doesn't want me to die, because his birth mother died and left him and he doesn't want that to happen again," she whispered to him and wrapped her arms around her body. Andy rubbed his hand on her right arm and then pulled her in for a hug.

"He told me this morning that he doesn't want us to think that we made a mistake about adopting him," Andy told her as he nuzzled against her ear. Sharon shook her head at that thought. "Hmm, I thought we worked through that already?" she said as she started to pull away from him and glanced down the hallway. "Come on, your breakfast is getting cold," she grabbed his hand and led him back to the kitchen.

It was 7:30 by the time the plates were being cleared off the table and Andy walked over to the sink, where Sharon was standing. "Thank you for breakfast," he said in a low, husky voice as he leaned in for a kiss. "You're welcome," she said, patting his arm as they broke from their shared kiss. Sharon watched Matthew grab his backpack and his lunch.

"Remember, Emily and I are going to pick you up after school today and take you over to Doctor Joe's office again," Sharon told him and pulled Matthew in for a hug. "I love you, sweetie," she whispered. "I love you too, Mommy," Matthew muttered and then broke from her hug. She turned to Andy and gave him a smile. "Good luck, and remember that I'm going to meet you at the office once he's done. Emily's going to take him home while we go to your meeting tonight," she walked him to the back door.

"You know I can come back here and pick you up," he sighed but knew she wanted to feel included. "You'd be going out of your way if you come pick me up here. This way, maybe we could grab a bite to eat before going?" she suggested and raised her eyebrows at him. "Okay," he muffled as he kissed her good bye.

Andy drove Matthew to school and then headed downtown to the office. The team was going to have a busy day in front of them. As he drove down the street, he thought about Sharon and the current case they were dealing with. He pulled into the parking lot of the PAB and parked his car.

As the elevator came to a stop on the first floor, Andy hoped that no one was getting on so that he could be alone with his thoughts. Unfortunately, when the doors opened, Winnie Davis stepped on the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. "Chief," Andy muttered as he stood there watching the numbers. "Lieutenant," Winnie stated as the doors closed.

There was silence inside as the elevator stopped at Winnie Davis's floor. The doors opened and she stepped out. Andy simultaneously reached for the button to quickly close the doors again and he let out a deep breath as the elevator took him to the ninth floor.

He stepped out and walked down the hallway to the office, opening the door and overhearing some sort of conversation Provenza and Mike were having. "Hey Flynn!" Provenza waved him over to his desk. "What'cha got?" Andy joined the two of them.

"I did some digging around and according to this credit card receipt, I think this might be where our hockey player got frozen," Mike stated and handed the receipt to Andy. "Los Angeles Cold Storage?" Andy stated as he looked up at Mike and Provenza. "Did we call this place yet?" Andy asked as he went to put his stuff down at his desk.

"Haven't had a chance to," Provenza stated. "Okay, so this place is located where?" Andy asked them as he walked back over to the Murder Board and looked at the map that was pinned up. "In the warehouse district off South Central Avenue," Mike stated and pointed to the location on the map. "That would make sense with what Billy told us," Andy muttered.

Amy and Julio walked in and sat down at their desks. "Did you two find this Frankie person yet?" Provenza asked them. "No sir," Julio stated and Andy began to wonder when everyone had shown up this morning. "Uh, what time did you guys all get here?" he asked them. "I dropped Mark off early at his school and came here around 7:15," Julio answered Andy.

Andy glanced at Provenza. "So we started an hour or so before you got here," Provenza shrugged his shoulders. "If we were starting early today, I could have had Emily drive Matthew to school," Andy told him and Provenza shook his head and waved him off. "It doesn't matter when we started, Flynn, let's just solve this case so that it doesn't ruin our weekend," he told him and Andy sighed.

Andy shook his head and walked back to his desk. Amy hung up from her phone and looked at Provenza. "Lieutenant that was Barry Harding, the head coach of the Ontario Reign. He's downstairs and an officer is showing him up here," she told him and he nodded. Andy heard and turned around. "So we're not going to Ontario then?" Andy asked as he looked at Provenza.

"No Flynn, we are not going there when the head coach can come here," Provenza grinned but Andy seemed upset as he walked over to him. "Do you mind telling me what's going on here? Because I walk in to work this morning, and find out that the rest of the team has been here an hour before me, which you neglected to tell me, and now the head coach of the team is here?" Andy gritted his teeth as he spoke to Provenza.

"Flynn, Flynn, just calm down! Nobody's keeping secrets from you, alright? Ye gods!" Provenza threw his hands up as he walked over to the Murder Board. "Does this have anything to do with me telling Sharon about this case?" Andy followed him and Provenza hung his head. "No Flynn, it doesn't," Provenza answered and they both saw a patrol officer bring the head coach into their office.

Amy turned around at her desk and gestured for the coach to follow her. She glanced over at Provenza and he pointed to the conference room and she took the coach to that room instead. "Now, are you going to come with me to interview the coach or do I need to get someone else?" Provenza asked Andy as he started to walk towards the conference room. Andy took a deep breath to center himself and followed Provenza to the room.

The two of them joined Amy and Barry Harding and all four of them had a seat at the table. "Coach Harding, very sorry for your loss of your player," Provenza stated as he sat down. "Thank you," Barry told him as he folded his hands on the table. "Do you know if there was anyone who would want to hurt Michael?" Amy started off the interview.

"Um, no, not that I can think of. I mean, Michael was a good player, his teammates liked him, he got along with them, and I don't understand how this could have happened?" Barry stated, shaking his head a little in disbelief. "Did he owe anyone money that you knew of or was he hanging out with people he shouldn't have?" Andy asked him.

"Um, he did show up to practice one day driving a fancy sports car, which I knew he couldn't have afforded on his salary. I asked him about it but he just stated that he had come into some money recently and decided to buy something," Barry answered Andy's question. "Look, what's going on here? I mean obviously this is something more than just an untimely death of one of my players," Barry added as he sat there looking at them.

"Coach Harding, we have reason to believe that Michael was murdered the night after your game in Bakersfield," Provenza told him. "Oh my gosh! Really? Who'd want to do that?" Barry sounded shocked at Provenza's statement. "Look, Coach Harding, have you ever heard of sports gambling?" Andy asked him. "Sure, who hasn't?" Barry answered and shrugged his shoulders.

"We arrested someone of interest yesterday that was involved in some sort of sports gambling ring. We found betting slips on your team's hockey games throughout the season," Andy explained to him as Provenza showed him the photocopies of the slips. Barry looked them over in shock. "Who would want to bet on an AHL game?" Barry asked. "You'd be surprised sir," Amy answered him.

"We also believe that Michael here may have been paid to through some of those games," Andy added and Barry looked up at him. "Wait! Are you serious?" Barry lashed out but before he could continue, Provenza showed him the bank account info they had on Michael. "We're pretty sure," Provenza told him as he looked at the sheet of paper.

"We need to know if anyone else on your team is involved," Andy stated to him as he sat across the table. "No, I would know if anyone wasn't playing up to their abilities," Barry stated and tossed the piece of paper he was reading back onto the table. "Just like you knew about Michael here?" Andy stared at the coach.

Provenza glanced at Andy before he spoke to the coach again. "Coach Harding, we would very much like your cooperation in this investigation," Provenza said diplomatically. "What do you want?" Barry answered after letting things sink in. "Good," Provenza said as he looked over at the window and saw Mike standing there holding up something. "Uh, Detective Sykes here will gather some information from you," Provenza stood up and Andy followed him outside the room.

"What is it Mike?" Provenza asked as Andy closed the door. "That cold storage facility is owned by Victor Rocco," Mike informed them. "The same guy who owns Rocco Construction?" Andy asked. "Yes," Mike nodded. "Well, there's another connection," Andy muttered. "Mike, secure a search warrant of that cold storage facility, I want to take a look around," Provenza told him and Mike walked back to his desk.

"What are you thinking?" Andy asked him as they stood outside the conference room. "I'm thinking it's time we met with Mister Rocco," Provenza answered as he glanced at Andy and then back at the coach. They made their way to the Murder Board and Julio was writing some information on it. There were a bunch of numbers and names.

"What's this Julio?" Provenza asked him as he walked up to his desk. "I went through all of the betting slips that we found at Billy's house and listed them down by amounts and the names written down on the papers," Julio explained to Provenza and Andy. Andy looked at the list that had compiled and shook his head. "There's at least twenty different names listed here, some are repeat offenders too," he stated, shaking his head as he walked back to his desk.

Meanwhile, Sharon was helping Emily with her audition portfolio. "When did you have these filmed?" Sharon asked her daughter as she watched some of her performances on her laptop. "I guess through the years?" Emily couldn't remember exactly. "How come I've never seen these before?" Sharon wondered as she looked at her daughter.

"I sent you some of them," Emily defended herself as she moved pieces from the flash drive to her laptop and then to a blank flash drive. Sharon hummed and then turned her attention to the portfolio book that Emily had made. She paged through it and stopped at almost every page, just smiling at every one of them.

Emily saw her mother and laughed. "What?" Sharon turned to look at her. "Nothing, Mom, it's just, I'm happy that my work as a dancer makes you smile," Emily told her. "Well, I'm very proud of you. I'm proud of all of my children," Sharon stated and squeezed Emily's shoulder, and grunted a little bit. "Mom?" Emily turned in time to see Sharon grimace. "It's nothing, just a little pain again," Sharon assured her as they sat at the dining room table and continued to go over Emily's dancing.

Back at the Murder Room, the team was going to divide up to cover more ground. Mike, Amy, and Buzz went to the cold storage place, while Provenza, Andy, and Julio went to the construction company. They needed to find this Frankie person that Billy had mentioned and time was running out on their ability to hold Billy without formal charges.

Mike, Amy, and Buzz all stepped out of their vehicle and walked towards the entrance of the facility. They were met by a couple of patrol officers. Mike explained to them what they were looking for and everyone walked into the facility's office. "Can I help you?" a man said at the front of the office.

Mike walked over to him. "Yes, I'm Lieutenant Tao, LAPD, this is Detective Sykes, we have a warrant to search your premises," Mike showed the warrant to the man and he read it. "Be my guest," the man gestured for them to come in and held the door for them.

"Are you the owner of this place?" Mike asked as Buzz, Amy, and the patrol officers started to look around. "No, I just man the front desk area," the man stated. "You want to talk to Victor Rocco, but he's not in," he added. Mike glanced down the hallway and kept an eye on Amy and Buzz. "And where would we find Victor?" Mike asked him.

"He's at his main office, downtown," the man answered and handed a business card to Mike. "We'll need to see the storage area of the person who purchased this," Mike handed the receipt to the man. "Block 23, that's down this hallway, then make a right, out the door and you'll be in the warehouse portion. 23 is the second row from the left and it should be open," the man informed him.

Mike nodded to two patrol officers and they stayed in the office with the man while everyone else followed the directions to the area.

At the downtown office, Victor Rocco sat at his desk and was reading the newspaper when he heard a knock at his door. "Come in," he said and the door opened. "Sorry to disturb you sir, but you have three detectives with the LAPD outside waiting in the lobby," his secretary told him. "Thank you Irene, uh, wait about 10 minutes and then send them in," Victor informed her and she closed the door.

Victor picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Yeah, do you know why there would be three LAPD detectives at my office?" he asked. "Does it have something to do with that task I asked you about?" he asked the person on the other line. "Go find Billy and call me back!" Victor stated and hung up his phone.

He had taken over the business from D'Angelo after he had been arrested and changed the way things were run. He knew sports gambling was illegal and that was why he made sure they routed everything through a small town just across the border in Nevada, even though they held there secret meetings in the warehouse district here in LA.

He was pretty low in D'Angelo's organization so that the feds didn't even bother to stop him. When D'Angelo got arrested and then sentenced to his jail term, Victor stepped up and took over little by little over the past year. His uncle would have been proud.

Meanwhile, in the office lobby, Andy and Julio were getting a little restless. "He's in a meeting right now? How convenient!" Andy muttered under his breath but Provenza still heard him. Julio looked around the lobby. Even though it was in the same building as where D'Angelo's place was, this was a different floor.

"Sir, I think somehow this guy is tied into that D'Angelo guy," Julio stated as he walked up to Provenza. "Why do you say that?" Provenza lowered his voice as he glanced at the secretary. "Well, there's a picture on the wall of D'Angelo and Victor," Julio stated and pointed to the far wall. "Hmm," Provenza grumbled.

"Detectives! He can see you now," Irene stood up from her desk and showed them to the office. They all stepped inside the office and Victor greeted them. "Victor Rocco?" Provenza asked and Victor nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Provenza, this is Lieutenant Flynn, and Detective Sanchez, LAPD," he flashed his badge and Victor nodded again. "What can I do for you?" he asked them as he stared at Andy.

His uncle had mentioned to him about a Lieutenant Flynn as they all gathered in his office. "Well, we are investigating a murder of a hockey player who played for the Ontario Reign hockey team," Provenza explained to Victor. "Oh, really? I'm sorry to hear that," Victor stated as he gestured for them to take a seat. "How can I help you with your investigation then?" Victor asked as he sat down behind his desk.

"We were able to track down some information that led us to your office, an IP address to a computer that's located here," Andy cleared his throat as he told Victor some information. "Uh, you're going to have to be more specific about that, Lieutenant Flynn is it? My company has a lot of computers. Every business has a lot of computers, so why the interest in mine?" Victor sat back in his chair.

"Well, you see here, Victor, we ran into someone who says they work for you, on the side, in a little gambling ring," Provenza informed him and Victor's demeanor on his face changed. "Gambling's illegal isn't it? Unless, you're in Nevada, am I right?" Victor asked and looked directly at Andy. "Right," Andy stated and met Victor's gaze at him.

"Well, I'm sorry detectives but I don't know about any sports gambling of any kind. Just who was this person you ran into, may I ask?" Victor told them and Provenza glanced at Andy before he spoke. "We arrested Billy Genovese last night for murder and he told us that he worked for you," Provenza leaned forward in the chair he was sitting on.

"I assure you Lieutenant, I don't know what you're talking about, or who this Billy person is," Victor said and smiled at them. "Do you know D'Angelo, Ricky D'Angelo?" Julio asked Victor as he stood behind the lieutenants. "He's my uncle," Victor answered him and stood up from his chair. "Listen, gentlemen, I'm afraid I can't help you, but I wish you well on your investigation, a pity that someone who played sports died," Victor spoke and showed them all out of his office.

"Ah, wait just a second," Andy said as Provenza and Julio stepped ahead of him. Andy turned around and looked Victor in the eye. "We already know what you're running here, only a matter of time before we link you to it," Andy stared at him and then walked away with Provenza and Julio. "Irene, please cancel my 11 o'clock appointment," Victor stated as he watched them leave the lobby.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks everyone for continuing to read this story!

Chapter 12

"What the hell are you thinking!" Provenza yelled at Andy as they stepped outside of the building. "What?" Andy looked over at him as they walked to the car. "He knows we're looking at him for this murder and gambling ring, so maybe he'll do something stupid now and we can catch him," Andy told Provenza as the three of them got into the car and Provenza drove back to the office.

Outside Rocco's construction office there was a white utility van parked on the street. Three men were inside the van watching the monitors. "Why would three LAPD detectives go in and come out of Victor Rocco's office?" one of them said as he watched Provenza, Andy, and Julio drive away with his binoculars.

"Well, like we all heard, they're investigating the murder of a hockey player, and if this is somehow connected to Victor's sports gambling ring we have been following, it could break our case wide open," another man stated as he sipped on a cup of coffee.

"Should we notify the FBI liaison to the LAPD yet?" the third guy asked. "Run a search and see just who did they arrest last night," he told him and continued to sip his coffee as the other man watched the monitors.

"Sir, they arrested Billy Genovese last night, the same prints that alerted us a couple of days beforehand," the man showed the laptop to him. He let out a puff of air before he picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. "Agent Morris, yeah this is Agent Walters," the man said over the phone.

Back at the cold storage facility, they were all wearing winter jackets. Mike and Amy were searching the cold locker when one of the patrol officers discovered something. "Lieutenant!" she called out to Mike and he walked over to where she was kneeling down. "I think this might be blood, sir," she pointed to the location.

"Hmm," Mike said and pulled out his bag of tricks, spraying some Luminal on the area. "Stand by people!" he shouted and nodded at Amy to switch the lights off. He took his black light out and shined it over the spot, immediately glowing with signs of blood.

"Okay Amy!" he shouted again and Amy turned the lights back on. Mike then swabbed some blood on a q-tip and placed it inside a small canister with some liquid. It was a field test for human blood, something that he had gotten from SID in exchange for kalua bottles.

"Call SID, get them down here, asap!" Mike informed Amy and turned to Buzz. "I want you to start filming everything, Buzz," he told him and then walked over to the side of the room and pulled out his phone.

Provenza's phone was ringing and Andy picked it up from the cup holder. "It's Mike," he stated as he answered the phone. "What's up Mike?" he asked. "We found blood here at the storage facility in the area where Billy rented the locker. I had Amy notify SID already, what does Provenza want to do?" Mike asked Andy.

Andy relayed what Mike had just told him and Provenza nodded as he drove. "Tell Mike we're on our way over to them now," Provenza told Andy and Andy told Mike, hanging up the phone when he was done. "How many crime scenes are we going to have?" Andy thought out loud as they changed directions and drove towards the warehouse district.

When they arrived, Mike had met them outside the facility and brought them in. Andy looked at the man in the front office as they passed him. "He cooperated with us," Mike stated almost reading Andy's mind. "Oh yeah? Too bad his boss didn't really have anything to say," Andy muttered as they made their way down the corridor to the storage area.

"Geeze Tao, it's freezing here!" Provenza yelled as he got closer to the area. "Oh come on Provenza, it's not that cold!" Andy quipped at him and moved passed him to get a better look at the area. "The area where the blood was discovered was in the far corner over there," Mike pointed to the location as Provenza looked on.

"It field tested positive for human blood, but we'll know more later when SID takes a sample to the lab and tests it against our hockey player's," Mike added as he moved to the side. "Alright, secure this area Tao," Provenza started to say but was interrupted by his telephone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that Chief Mason was calling him. "Ye gods," he muttered and then moved to a warmer area and answered the call.

"Yes Chief Mason," he stated. "Lieutenant where is your team?" Chief Mason stated as he stood in his office with FBI Special Agent Morris and Special Agent Walters. "Well, if you must know we are standing at another crime scene where our victim was frozen," Provenza told him as he watched the SID officers come and go from the scene.

"I need you and the rest of your team back at the office asap!" Chief Mason told him. "But sir, we still need to," but before Provenza could finish, Chief Mason interrupted him. "Asap Lieutenant!" he informed him again. "Yes sir," Provenza mumbled and hung up his phone. He walked back over to where everyone was standing.

"Alright, listen up everyone. Chief Mason wants us back at the office asap so, I guess we need to pack this up," Provenza waved his hand and then headed back to the car. Andy and Mike both looked at each other and Andy followed Provenza while the rest of the team gathered their things to leave.

"Hey! What did the Chief actually say?" Andy caught up with Provenza as he was leaving the facility. "Not much, just that he needed us back at the office as soon as possible," Provenza told him and then looked at their surroundings. "This can't be good, whatever it is," Andy stated and squinted as the sun started to shine down on Los Angeles.

Back at the house, Sharon was taking a pain pill when Emily walked into the kitchen. "I think I finished the portfolio for them, Mom," Emily interrupted her mother and Sharon turned around with a glass in one hand and held up her finger to tell Emily to wait a second as she took her pill. Sharon drank some water from her glass and then smiled at Emily.

"Good to hear that!" she told her as she dumped the rest of the water in the sink and put her pill bottle away in the cabinet. "I was hoping that you and I could spend the morning out together, you know, maybe go shopping, out to lunch?" Sharon suggested as her eyes perked up. "Are you sure you're up to that, Mom?" Emily asked her, not wanting to push it too much.

"I'm perfectly fine," Sharon smiled. "No, you're not, Mom, but I'm not going to argue with you anymore," Emily told her and then sat down at the kitchen table. "What time did you want to go?" she asked her and Sharon glanced at the clock. "How about in ten minutes?" she suggested and then went to the powder room on the first floor to freshen up.

Emily pulled out her phone and texted Andy to let him know what they were doing. As Andy, Provenza, and Julio were driving back to the office, Andy's phone alerted him to a message. "Is that Mason, wondering where we are again?" Provenza asked him as he drove.

"No, it's Emily," Andy muttered as he read her message. Provenza glanced at his best friend. "Everything okay at home?" he asked Andy. "Uh, yeah," he answered as he replied to Emily's text message.

'Is she up for that? I don't want her to push too much,' he typed to Emily and hit the send button. He knew she deserved a little mother-daughter time outside of the house and hoped that Sharon wasn't pushing herself too hard to return to normal duties. 'She says she is' was Emily's response and Andy placed his phone back in his jacket pocket.

They pulled into the parking garage of the PAB and parked the car. Andy got out and waited for Provenza and Mike to join him before they headed up to their floor. "What do you think the Chief wants calling us all back here?" Amy asked as they stood in the elevator. "I don't know Sykes, but this can't be good," Andy sighed.

The doors opened on the ninth floor and Chief Mason was standing in the waiting area. "No, not good at all," Mike muttered under his breath as they all stepped out of the elevator. "Lieutenant Provenza, will you and your team join me in the Murder Room," Chief Mason stated and then started to walk towards the office. Provenza glanced at Andy and Mike and followed him.

"Look, Chief Mason, do you mind telling us why you called us back?" Provenza asked as he walked through the door to the Murder Room. He saw FBI Special Agent Morris standing by the Murder Board along with some other man he never saw before. "Ye gods!" Provenza mumbled as he made his way towards his desk.

Andy followed him inside the Murder Room and as soon as he saw Agent Morris, he stopped and folded his arms. "Oh geeze, this ought to be good," he muttered. Everyone else came into the room and gathered around the Murder Board.

"Lieutenant, everyone, you know Special Agent Morris with the FBI," Chief Mason stated as he pointed to Morris. "Oh yes, how can we forget you Special Agent Morris?" Provenza rolled his eyes as he took his seat at his desk. "Nice to see you too, Lieutenant Provenza," Special Agent Morris smiled sarcastically at him.

"This is Special Agent Walters with the organized crime division of the FBI," Morris introduced Walters to everyone. "We've been watching Victor Rocco ever since he took over his uncle's business, and we discovered the separate sports gambling ring about 5 months ago," Agent Walters started to brief everyone.

"Oh yeah? Why haven't you arrested Victor yet?" Andy asked him. "Because, Lieutenant Flynn, we didn't have enough evidence to tie him into interstate commerce violations," Agent Walters stated as he looked at Andy. Andy was surprised that the agent knew his name and figured either Chief Mason or Agent Morris told him who everyone was.

"Sports gambling and betting is a federal crime outside of Nevada. We had an undercover agent at their latest gambling meeting down at the warehouse district a couple of nights ago. He was able to get viable information for our case," Agent Walters continued. "Hold on a second, what do you mean your case?" Provenza interrupted him. Both Agent Morris and Agent Walters looked over at Chief Mason.

"Lieutenant, you and your team are to turn over all information you have gathered regarding this case to the FBI," Chief Mason informed Provenza and the whole Murder Room went into uproar. "Now you wait just a damn minute!" Provenza pointed at Chief Mason with his finger. "We are investigating a murder here!" he continued as he looked at Mason and then the FBI.

"Turn everything over, now. The FBI will be taking over the investigation into the murder as well as everything tying Victor Rocco and his workers, including Billy Genovese, whom you arrested last night," Chief Mason told Provenza again.

"Really? We're giving everything to the FBI now, I mean what, are we now their lackeys all of a sudden?" Andy angrily stated to them and Chief Mason. Provenza turned to Andy and glared at him. "A hockey player was murdered, Chief, and now we can't investigate that because we're stepping on the FBI's toes?" Andy continued, not caring that Provenza and the rest of the team was now looking at him.

Chief Mason turned to Provenza. "Lieutenant, you have your orders, I expect them to be done," he stated to him and then left the room. Everyone gathered their current notes about the case and one by one, handed over the information to Agent Morris and Agent Walters. Andy walked over to his desk and grabbed the file folder that was on top and walked back over to Agent Morris.

"Sorry Lieutenant Flynn," Agent Morris shrugged his shoulders as Andy handed him the folder. "Yeah, I bet you are," Andy gritted his teeth and then walked out of the office. "Hey Flynn! Flynn!" Provenza called after him but Andy just kept walking. Provenza ran his hands through his hair and watched everyone turn over their files.

"Want me to go after him?" Julio asked Provenza as he glanced in the direction of where Andy had walked out. "No, I'll go find him in a couple of minutes, let him cool off a little," Provenza told Julio and then watched Amy take everything off the Murder Board and placed the items in a box.

Fifteen minutes later, Provenza found Andy on the roof in their usual spot where they would go if something wasn't going right. "Have you calmed down yet?" Provenza asked Andy as he came up behind him. Andy was sitting on one of the steps where an access door was located. "Whatever," mumbled Andy. Provenza raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Do you think I like turning everything over to the FBI?" Provenza asked Andy as he took a seat next him. The sun was shining bright down on them and that had Provenza wishing he had brought his white bucket hat. Andy had put his sunglasses on when he had come up there, so the sun wasn't bothering him.

"It's just I feel like we can't get justice for Michael because we have to turn over the person who participated in his murder, over to the FBI for some interstate commerce charge instead," Andy gruffed as he spoke with his hands. "Flynn, did it ever occur to you that Michael wasn't as innocent as he seemed to be? I mean he was involved in throwing several hockey games, and who knows who else on the team was in on it as well?" Provenza explained to him as they sat there.

"Still, he was murdered, and we were charged with investigating his murder," Andy tried to make his point. "This is the second case in a row that the feds have taken over," he argued and paused as Provenza listened to him. "I mean, if we keep turning things over to them, what's the point?" he placed his head in his hands and looked down.

"First of all, Flynn, turning over our robbery case to the FBI was a good thing, I think, because it spared you and the commander from dealing with the case after she got shot," Provenza told him and Andy huffed. "Yeah, it really spared us," he mumbled and Provenza continued. "Do I like it that we turned everything over that we discovered in this case to them, no. But, I'm sure there will be another case out there that we won't be stumbling on the FBI," Provenza wanted to be positive.

The two sat there in silence for a while before Provenza started talking. "How's Matthew doing with Doctor Joe?" he asked Andy, trying to change the subject. "Sharon said he opened up to her a little bit last night. Said he was afraid that she was going to die and leave him, just like his birth mother did," Andy told him.

Provenza looked away and sighed. "Well, you all have been through a lot lately, that's a lot to ask for a kid who's nine, almost ten in two months," he told Andy. "Yeah, I'm sure he didn't think he'd be getting into a cop's family when his birth mom was killed," Andy muttered and shook his head.

"Do you ever feel like you just can't get ahead no matter what you do?" Andy asked Provenza as he stood up and started to walk towards the glass edge. Provenza looked and then followed him. "You're not thinking of doing something stupid, are you?" he questioned him. "What? No, of course not!" Andy glanced at Provenza and turned around.

"Well, come on Flynn! Snap out of this funk you're in!" Provenza patted him on his back. "Why, if this was the old you and me, I would take you to a bar where we would pick up some pretty little blond chicks and show you a good time," Provenza continued but Andy shook his head. "I'm a happily married man, thank you very much," Andy grumbled.

"I know, I know Flynn, so am I for that matter," Provenza back tracked. "You need a vacation my friend," he told Andy. "I need Sharon to get better," Andy muttered as he looked up at the sky. "She will," Provenza stated and they stood on the roof for a couple of more minutes before they finally retreated back into the building.

It was lunch time and Sharon and Emily were at the outdoor mall, browsing through the different stores when Andy called Sharon's phone. "Hello?" Sharon answered her phone as she was standing by a dressing room, waiting for Emily to come out. "Hey, how's the shopping going?" he asked her. "Oh, it's going fine," she smiled as she looked down at some of the bags that were on the floor next to her.

"Is our credit card getting a workout?" he chuckled and Sharon smiled again. "Hmm, somewhat honey," she told him. "I bought you something," she said, seductively over the phone. "Me? What did you buy me?" he asked her, curious to know. "Hmm, well, I'm hoping for a full release this Monday from the doctor so, you'll just have to wait and see that night," Sharon flirted.

Andy groaned into the phone. "Sharon," he said her name and pictured anything that would come to mind to ease his frustration. "So, how are things with the case?" Sharon asked, changing the subject to get Andy's mind off of what they were just talking about.

"Huh, funny you should mention that. You see, apparently, the FBI already had Victor Rocco and his sports gambling ring in their sights long before this murder happened, and this morning, they showed up at the PAB and Chief Mason turned all of our information over to them," Andy was getting frustrated again just thinking about that.

"Hmm, they seem to be popping up lately," Sharon stated and then watched Emily come out of the dressing room wearing something new. "Oh, I like this one!" she said to her daughter. "Sharon?" Andy said, wondering what she was talking about. "I'm sorry honey, Emily is trying on some new clothes and I was commenting on her new outfit," Sharon moved away from the dressing room and listened to him.

"So they took over everything in the investigation, including our suspect in our murder case!" Andy was frustrated again. "Honey, look, it happens, so they took over your case, now that frees you and the rest of the team up this weekend," Sharon said showing the possible bright side of this happening.

"Could you show me what you bought me this weekend?" he asked her in a flirty tone. "Oh, well I wouldn't be cleared from the doctor yet, and I do think I should be cleared first, before I, you know, show you," Sharon flirted right back at him and she only heard Andy groan again. "Fine," he let out in a huff.

"Are you doing okay, otherwise?" he asked her, clearing his throat and shaking his thoughts out of his head. "Yes, I'm doing okay," she smiled. "Alright, then I'll let you go. See you later this afternoon," he told her. "Hmm, okay. I love you," she told him. "I love you too," he said and they hung up their phones.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks everyone for continuing to read this story! Sorry for the delay in between updates.

Chapter 13

Sharon and Emily had picked up Matthew from school and now they were all walking down the hallway towards Doctor Joe's office. Matthew opened the door and walked in first, followed by Sharon and Emily. Matthew sat down on one of the chairs while Sharon checked him in at the front desk and then walked over to sit next to him.

She glanced at him before sitting down and he looked like he was nervous. "You're going to be fine," she told him and patted his knee with her hand. The other door opened and Doctor Joe was standing at the entrance-way. "Hello there Matthew!" Doctor Joe stated and then motioned for Matthew to enter his office.

Matthew stood up and walked inside the office. Doctor Joe nodded to Sharon and then closed the door behind him. "So, how did things go yesterday when you left here?" Doctor Joe asked him as he took a seat on his couch. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm, am I to take it that things didn't go so well then?" Doctor Joe asked Matthew as he took his seat in front of him.

"Did you talk with your mom when you got home like we spoke about?" Doctor Joe asked him and he nodded as he sat there. "Okay, good! So, what did you talk about with her?" he asked and Matthew fiddled with his hands. "I asked her if she was going to be okay and she said yes," he started to tell him but then hesitated for a second.

"She asked me why I was asking her all of this and I told her that I didn't want her to die like my birth mother did and leave me," he finally told him. "And, what did your mom say when you told her that?" Doctor Joe asked. "She said she wasn't going to leave for a very long time," he muttered, answering Doctor Joe's question.

"So, do you think you've been acting out at school and at home because you're afraid that your parents are going to leave you all alone by yourself?" Doctor Joe asked him and he thought about it. "Maybe?" he shrugged his shoulders again. "There's this one kid at the after school care program, he was making fun of me because I'm adopted and I got into a fight with him," Matthew added.

"Oh and how did that go over with your parents?" Doctor Joe sat back in his chair. "Not good," Matthew looked down at his feet while he sat on the couch. "What did this kid say to you that made you so angry?" he asked him. "He told me that my parents had no other choice in adopting me. That they felt sorry for me," Matthew told Doctor Joe as he stood up and walked over to the race cars display that Doctor Joe had set up in his office.

"And, is that the reason why Sharon and Andy adopted you? Because they felt sorry for you and had no other choice?" Doctor Joe added as he watched Matthew play with the cars. "No," he muttered his response. "What's the real reason they adopted you?" he asked him and Matthew turned around to look at him.

"Because they love me," he answered him and sat back down again. "Very good Matthew," Doctor Joe smiled. "So, let's go back to when they first searched for you, after your birth mother died, you hid at your house and they found you, hiding in the closet in the bedroom," Doctor Joe stated and Matthew nodded as he remembered that day.

"They saw a tired and scared boy and wanted to help him right away, am I correct?" Doctor Joe continued and Matthew nodded again. "What were you feeling that day they found you?" he asked Matthew. Matthew sat there in silence for a while. "Matthew?" Doctor Joe watched the boy sit there. "I was scared," Matthew mumbled.

"I was scared that day when they found me. I was scared the day my dad got shot. I was scared when my mom got shot too," Matthew cried out. "Hey, it's okay to be scared, especially during those difficult times when you don't know what's going to happen," Doctor Joe told him as he sat there.

"Why do they have to have such dangerous jobs? Why couldn't they have safer jobs?" Matthew asked him as he stood up and walked over to the race cars again. Doctor Joe watched him walk away from the couch and turned in his chair. "Your adoptive parents have an important job. They took an oath to protect the innocent people that live in Los Angeles, including me and you. They are really good at their job and they enjoy getting to help people and putting away the bad guys," Doctor Joe told him.

"But why do they get injured?" Matthew asked as he moved one of the cars around the table. "Well, sometimes that happens in the job they have, but you need to remember this, Matthew, they love you and they would never leave you on purpose," Doctor Joe leaned forward in his chair and placed his elbows on his knees. Matthew continued to play with the cars and Doctor Joe thought of another way to explain this to Matthew.

"You like Batman, correct?" he asked him and Matthew looked over at him and nodded. "Okay, so Batman stops the bad guys that come into Gotham City, right?" Doctor Joe asked and Matthew nodded. "And sometimes, Batman gets hurt, but he recovers and is able to save the day," he added. Matthew came back over to the couch and sat down.

"Would you want Batman to stop saving the day?" Doctor Joe posed that question to him and Matthew thought about it. "No," he mumbled. "Okay, so that's just like your parents, they save the day by doing their jobs," Doctor Joe tried explaining to him, hoping Matthew would understand what he was trying to get to.

Matthew huffed as he pursed his lips, listening to what Doctor Joe was telling him. "Want to know something?" Doctor Joe leaned forward as Matthew watched him. "I got shot while I was in a courtroom, and your mother stopped the shooter from shooting more people that day," he told Matthew.

Matthew sat there listening to him. "Have you thought about talking with your adopted brothers and sisters regarding growing up with parents who are police officers?" Doctor Joe asked. "If that's what really is bothering you," he added, hoping Matthew would agree or disagree with him but he got no response.

"So, you started telling me about baseball yesterday," he asked him as he glanced at the clock on the wall. They only had a few more minutes in this session. "I play little league baseball," Matthew told him as he sat on his hands. "What position?" Doctor Joe asked him. "In the outfield. I'm pretty good at Center Field," Matthew told him.

"Did your parents enroll you in that because they knew you liked the game or because you expressed an interest?" he posed the question to the boy. "I like playing baseball," Matthew simply answered him and Doctor Joe chuckled to himself. "Are we going to play that game again today?" Matthew turned and looked at the clock.

"If you want to," Doctor Joe reached over to the table next to his chair and carried over the Connect Four set and placed it in front of Matthew.

Meanwhile, back at the Murder Room, the team had sent all of their reports to the FBI earlier in the day and now they were all just sitting at their desks, reading whatever they had available to pass the time. "I can't believe they came in here and swept our entire investigation from us!" Julio muttered as Provenza looked at him.

"Oh no! You're not starting that up now!" Provenza ordered Julio and pointed his finger at him. "I just calmed down Flynn from the whole FBI debacle and I don't want you starting it again!" he continued and Julio raised his hands in surrender to Provenza. "Easy sir!" Julio smiled and went back to looking over some paperwork that was still on his desk.

Andy walked back into the Murder Room with another cup of coffee in his hands. He saw Julio and Provenza debating on something and he decided not to bother with them as he walked to his desk and sat down on his chair. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost 4:30. Matthew's session would be ending soon and they would be coming over to the office.

He sighed as he sat there and rubbed his temples. He was both looking forward to his session tonight with Doctor Peters but also was a little reluctant. "Everyone, go home, enjoy the evening!" Provenza stated which brought Andy back from his thoughts.

One by one, the team started to leave the office. Julio was driving Buzz home today so they left. Mike walked out with Amy. Andy was looking at the doorway to the hall, waiting for Sharon to walk in at any moment. "Flynn! See you tomorrow and good luck with your thing tonight," Provenza waved to him as he walked out of the office.

"Oh, Commander, how are you feeling?" Provenza asked Sharon as he ran into in the hallway. "Lieutenant, I'm feeling better, thank you for asking," Sharon gave a small smile as Provenza stopped her in the hallway outside the office. "He seems to be in a funk, I spoke to him earlier in the day, up on the roof," Provenza told her and Sharon knew that Andy only went to the roof when he was really bothered by something.

"Thank you Lieutenant, have a good night! Say hello to Patrice for me!" Sharon touched his arm as he retreated to the elevators and she made her way to the Murder Room. As she entered the room, she saw Andy sitting at his desk looking in her direction. She smiled at him and he returned her smile with his own.

He watched her as she entered the office. She was wearing a nice pair of blue jeans, a beige blouse, and one of her cardigan sweaters. Her outfit reminded him of what she wore when she took down those two men who impersonated the police. The memory took his breath away as he stood up from his desk. She made her way over to him. "Hi," she smiled again as she got closer to him. "Hey," he pulled her in for a hug and held her close to him.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked him, pulling back from his embrace as she looked into his eyes. She saw them filled with worry. "Where's Matthew and Emily?" he asked as he worked his arms into his suit jacket again. "Emily dropped me off. Her and Matthew are meeting Rusty for dinner tonight," she smiled as she watched him.

She glanced towards her office and then back at Andy. "I'll let you pick where we are going tonight for dinner, and then you can tell me about your day of shopping," he grinned at the thought of what she had purchased as he led her out of the office and into the hallway. "Hmm, are you trying to gather some clues on what I may have purchased, Lieutenant?" she teased him as they waited for the elevator.

He laughed and shook his head as they both stepped onto the elevator. "No, ma'am, not at all," he cleared his throat as the doors closed. He was certainly feeling better than he had during the day. As they made their way to his car, he concluded that he missed seeing Sharon in her office, working side by side with her, and hoped that her doctor's appointment on Monday would go smoothly so that she could return to work.

He opened her car door for her and she sat in the passenger side. He flashed his smile at her before he closed her door and made his way over to the driver's side. "You seem to be in a better mood since the last time I spoke to you earlier today," she told him as he started the car. "I miss working with you," he confessed as he turned to look at her. "I'm happier when you're near me," he shrugged his shoulders as Sharon watched him.

She reached out and ran her hand along the side of his face. "What am I going to do with you?" she asked, barely above a whisper and he smiled. "You could show me what you bought," Andy grinned and Sharon rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's get through your session tonight, and you'll just have to wait a little longer, I promise," she told him. "Fine," he huffed and placed the car in reverse, backing out of the spot, and then driving them to the little restaurant Sharon liked.

They arrived at the restaurant and Andy held his hand out for Sharon to take as she stepped out of the car. They crossed the street and walked to the corner of the small restaurant. As they both stepped inside, they were greeted by the owner. "Ah, Lieutenant Flynn, and the lovely Captain," Billy stated and shook Andy's hand. "Well, actually it's Commander now," Andy corrected him as he pointed to Sharon.

"Oh, my apologies Commander," Billy stated and took Sharon's hand in his. Sharon smiled and linked her arm with Andy's as she stood there. "It's been a while since I have seen you two in here," Billy walked them to a table towards the back of the restaurant. "We've been busy, you know how it is, Billy," Andy explained as Sharon took a seat in a booth. "Of course," Billy nodded and handed the menus to them, giving them a moment to look things over.

Sharon ordered a chicken chili lime salad and Andy ordered the broiled fish special. As they waited for their food to come out, Sharon reached out and grabbed Andy's hand, to stop him from fidgeting. "You nervous about something?" she asked him and he raised his eyebrows. "Ah, a little bit," he sighed, looking down at the table.

"How far did you get along in the case before the FBI took it over?" she asked him, hoping changing the subject to get his mind off of his therapy session would help him. He looked at her and shook his head. "We had just spoken with this Victor Rocco guy, and let me tell you, this guy was a spitting image of D'Angelo," he started to tell her. "I may have said something to him as we were leaving his office," he added and she moved her head to the side, slightly, wondering if he taunted this guy like he did with D'Angelo.

"Tell me you didn't?" she asked him and he knew what she was talking about. "I didn't threaten him, sort of," was his response. "Andy," Sharon sighed as she took a sip from her water glass. "What? The guy was running an illegal gambling ring and ordered someone killed!" Andy defended himself and Sharon squeezed his hand, calming him down.

"We found the freezer storage place where the hockey player was killed, but that's when Chief Mason called us and told us to get back to the office immediately," Andy continued until their food was brought out. "Andy, I know the FBI taking over another case of ours is frustrating," Sharon stated. "Hah! That's an understatement!" Andy said as he poked his food with his fork, moving it around his plate. Sharon watched him as she ate her salad.

"Are you not hungry?" she asked him after watching him move his food back and forth on the plate for about five minutes. Andy looked across the table at her and gave a slight chuckle. "I just hope you don't regret anything by coming with me tonight," he huffed. "Why would I regret that?" she asked in wonder. "I don't know what I'm going to say tonight, I mean I have a pretty good idea what the doc is going to talk about, but, I don't want you to be uncomfortable, in case, you know bad things come up," he hesitated to say that knowing that he sounded just like Matthew did this morning.

Sharon shook her head. "You sound like Matthew now," she told him and he laughed. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it again. "Andy, I don't regret my choice in coming with you tonight, or being with you, or anything else you could possibly think of," she told him, being serious for a minute. "I love you, and I want to be here for you," she smiled, hoping that would re-assure him. "I love you too," he responded and they finished eating.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews that you have left on this story. I really appreciate them!

Chapter 14

Andy looked at Sharon one more time before he opened the door to Doctor Peters' office. He stepped inside and waited for Sharon before he walked over to the receptionist. "Hi, I have an appointment with Doctor Peters at 7, the last name is Flynn," Andy informed her and noticed that Sharon was right by his side. "Have a seat, Doctor Peters will be right with you," the receptionist told Andy. He nodded and Sharon led him over to a set of chairs in the waiting area.

"Andy, if you don't want me to go in with you, I can stay out here," Sharon informed him, noticing his right leg was bouncing as he sat in the chair. She placed her hand on his leg to calm him down and he stopped. "Sorry," he mumbled as they waited. Andy realized that he didn't answer Sharon's question as the door to the office opened and Doctor Peters was standing there.

"Lieutenant, it's good to see you again. Come on in," Doctor Peters gestured for Andy to follow him and he stood up, but noticed that Sharon was still sitting down. "Please come with me," he said to her, quietly. She nodded and stood up to join him. Doctor Peters looked at Andy and Sharon as they stepped inside his office.

"Hey Doc, it's been a while since I've been here," Andy shook his hand as they stepped inside the office. There was a couch and four sets of chairs along with a desk in the corner. The room looked cozy, not how Andy had remembered it when he attended family counseling years ago. "Yes, it has Lieutenant," he told Andy and looked over at Sharon. "And you are?" he inquired to her and Andy interrupted. "Oh, sorry Doc, where are my manners. This is Sharon, my wife," Andy introduced her.

"Nice to finally meet you, Sharon. I've heard a lot about you through the years," Doctor Peters told her which surprised Sharon. She knew that Andy had mentioned her name when he was attending family counseling with Nicole and his ex-wife, but she didn't know to what extent he had mentioned her. Sharon smiled at his greeting and then followed Andy to the couch where he had sat down on.

"So, Andy, from what I gathered during your phone call, you wanted to discuss some things that had been troubling you recently," Doctor Peters sat down across from them. "Uh, yeah, that's correct," Andy clasped his hands together as he sat there. Sharon reached over and touched his left hand, which he released and she held his hand in hers. He took a deep breath before he started.

"Two weeks ago, Sharon got shot on the job, and," Andy closed his eyes and Sharon squeezed his hand gently, letting him know she was there. "And I was good, I mean, we were at an apartment building, going to talk to one of the suspects that we were investigating, and I knew something was up when the guy answered the door and told us to hang on a second," he continued as he looked at the doctor.

"Why didn't I do something right then, I don't know, and I've asked myself that, but I just stood there waiting for the guy to return and I glanced at Sharon who was across from me at that time. The guy came back, opened the door and started shooting," Andy told him as the doctor took some notes down on a pad of paper. Sharon watched Andy as he continued to recount that afternoon.

"I got Sharon out of there as quickly as I could and into a stairwell, but instead of going down the stairs, I headed up the stairs, pushing Sharon up as well," he continued as his right hand went up to his face. "I get her safely to an open room and shut the door behind us, meanwhile the two guys were still shooting at us, I think I fired my weapon a couple of times and I know Sharon did as well," he said as he looked at her.

"Long story short, she's shot in her arm and I didn't realize at the time but also her side had bullet fragments from one of the bullets going through her vest. I ended up getting us out of the building as they were still shooting at us and I get her to our car and drive her to the nearest hospital," he ended his explanation.

"Is that all that happened that day, Andy?" Doctor Peters asked him but Andy didn't understand the question. "What do you mean?" he asked him. "Well, getting shot at close quarters, or any case is quite traumatic to begin with, everybody's body reacts differently, it seems like you kept your cool under the pressure and got Sharon to safety," Doctor Peters explained as Andy shifted on the couch.

"But, I'd like to know, once you got her to the hospital, was there any other traumatic experiences that occurred? What I meant by that is were there any complications once you got her there, or did anything happen while you were at the hospital?" Doctor Peters tried to clarify his question.

"Uh, yeah, that night after she woke up the second time in her room, we talked and then she went back to sleep. I had fallen asleep by her bedside and woke up to alarms ringing. Nurses and a doctor rushed into the room and worked on stabilizing her," Andy spoke and turned his head to look at Sharon. She looked at him and gave a slight smile to assure him that it was okay to talk about it.

"How did you feel when that was happening, as you watched them work on your wife," Doctor Peters asked him and Andy took a deep breath. "I couldn't breathe," his voice staggered. "I felt like my whole world was crashing, my chest tightened, I lost my footing but the nurse placed her hand on my arm to steady me," he added and cleared his throat. "I felt like I couldn't protect you," he turned to Sharon.

"Andy," Sharon whispered as she listened to him speak to the doctor. She didn't know what happened because Andy never told her what he was feeling when that occurred. "That's normal to feel that way, especially when you watch someone you love being worked on at the hospital," Doctor Peters told him. Andy looked at his hand, intertwined with Sharon's as the doctor spoke. He didn't want to look at Sharon because he knew if he did, he would certainly see tears forming in her eyes and he couldn't take that right now.

"Andy? Do you still feel that way now?" Doctor Peters asked, trying to get Andy's attention back to him. "Um, no, not really, I mean," Andy paused for a minute before speaking again. "I need her to be alright, and once I know that she will be, then, I think I'll be able to be myself again," he added. "I still have nightmares about the incident itself, but other things are creeping in as well," Andy said. "We'll get to the nightmares in a little bit but I want to touch on what you just said for a moment. You don't feel like yourself right now?" Doctor Peters leaned forward in his chair and looked at the couple sitting on the couch.

"I do and I don't. I want to make sure she is safe and not doing anything to jeopardize her health recovery, and I think by doing that and making sure that she's following her doctor's orders precisely, she's going to start to regret me," he answered him. "I know what it's like to be hovered over as you are recovering from an injury," and as soon as he said those words out loud, he wished he could have taken them back immediately.

Sharon sat upright and looked over at Andy. "Is that what you think I was doing? Hovering over you?" she asked him, not wanting it to come out accusatory. Andy took a deep breath and shook his head. "That's not what I meant," he told her, looking at her. "Then what did you mean?" Sharon asked him, still holding on to his hand, more so for her sake not his.

"How many times have I been injured on the job? At least seven or eight times, I've lost track, but I know you were there for me during each of those times, making sure that I recovered from my injuries or illness, making sure that I followed the doctor's orders and instructions, right?" Andy said to her. "Yes, and how many times did you resist or try to resist in me helping you?" she asked him and Doctor Peters let them talk to one another, not interrupting them. "A majority of them," he mumbled.

"Do you regret Sharon helping you in your recoveries over the years?" Doctor Peters asked him. "No, gosh no," Andy answered and looked at her. "Andy, I would never regret you or resent you from wanting to take care of me," Sharon told him and squeezed his hand gently again. "You're my everything," he confessed to her.

"Are you afraid of losing her, Andy?" Doctor Peters asked him. Andy cleared his throat again. "Doc, I know she would be fine without me, she'd be able to go on each day and carry on, but I don't think I would be able to do the same. It would definitely be a struggle," Andy sighed. Doctor Peters, knowing Andy's background as an alcoholic asked him another hard question.

"Would you crawl into a bottle again if that did happen?" he asked him and Andy wasn't stunned by his question. He knew it would come up. "I'd have to take it one day at a time and I would do my best to get through the day, and if I had to go to meeting after meeting to do so, I would," Andy answered him as honest as he could be.

Doctor Peters sat back in his chair and glanced at the clock. They had still had some time before the session ended and he wanted to see if anything else was underlying with Andy. "How's your marriage between the two of you?" he asked and both Andy and Sharon looked up at him. "Excuse me?" Andy said, irritated at him asking that question but Sharon placed her hand on his back to calm him down.

"Well, besides having a stressful job between the two of you, I'd like to know if there is something else that is or could act like a trigger in your life and marriage," Doctor Peters explained. "We have a nine year old son that we adopted, Matthew's his name and he's been giving us a hard time lately," Sharon told him as Andy sat there.

"That's quite an adjustment, going from adult children to a nine year old," Doctor Peters stated. "Yes, it was, and I had my doubts in the beginning, when we became emergency foster parents to him, but then, he grew into our hearts," Andy informed him. "What type of doubts did you have?" Doctor Peters asked.

"That I'd make the same mistakes I did with my kids, with him," Andy said. "But Andy, wasn't it the mistakes in your first marriage that caused the mistakes with your children back then?" Doctor Peters asked. "That you weren't emotionally ready to be married and have children with Sandra?" he added and Andy sat there wondering where Doctor Peters was going with this. He didn't want to go down the past as Sharon sat there next to him.

"It seems to me, just by watching the two of you together, and all that you spoke about Sharon years before when you attended these sessions with Nicole, Charlie, and Sandra, that your marriage to Sharon is healthy and strong, so you're not going to make the mistakes that you did previously, and you're not going to fail Matthew," Doctor Peters looked at Andy, hoping that his message would assure him. Sharon watched Andy as those words sunk into his head. There was silence for a couple of minutes before Doctor Peters spoke again.

"Okay, let's talk about these nightmares for a minute," Doctor Peters stated and Andy nodded, shifting on the couch as his back was starting to hurt from sitting in the same spot. "What kind of nightmares are you having?" he asked Andy. "About the incident with her getting shot, sometimes she's at the hospital and the outcome is not the same," Andy stated and then hesitated before telling him about his most recent nightmare. He knew he didn't want Sharon to worry about him when he confessed about Croelick.

"The latest one I had was different though, it wasn't about the incident or Sharon in the hospital," Andy started to say. "What was it about then?" Doctor Peters asked. Andy sighed and blew air out of his mouth as he thought about how to tell the doctor and Sharon this. "Uh, well, Sharon and I were at the park with Matthew, and Matthew was playing on the swings. Sharon was watching him and I saw someone starting to approach us," Andy started. "Who approached you?" Doctor Peters asked him.

Andy looked at Sharon and then at the doctor. What could he classify Croelick as? he thought to himself. "A guy from our past, well more my past but, you see Doc, I arrested this guy, he got out on a technicality and showed up last year and this year again, in one of our cases," Andy said and Sharon knew he was talking about Croelick. She shook her head slightly and closed her eyes briefly.

"So this is the guy that was in your dream?" Doctor Peters wanted to clarify and Andy nodded. "I tried calling out to Sharon, in my dream, but she couldn't hear me. I looked to see where Matthew was and he was still on the swings. Croelick, that's the guy's name, approached me but I didn't have my weapon and then the two of us start to struggle. He tells me that he's going to watch them burn and so am I. I fell on my back and watched him get closer to Sharon, I yell louder but then I wake up," Andy finished.

"Is that what you were mumbling in your sleep this morning?" Sharon asked, remembering waking up to Andy's restlessness. Andy nodded. "And is that why you didn't want to tell me about your dream when I asked you this morning? Because you thought I would be upset with you bringing Croelick up again?" Sharon asked him, trying not to sound mad. Andy sighed and ran his right hand through his hair.

"Well, hold that thought right there, I'd hate to interrupt but our time's up already," Doctor Peters informed them. Sharon looked at the doctor and Andy looked down at the floor. "Andy, I think you would benefit from another session, and Sharon, you're more than welcome to come with him as well to the next one," Doctor Peters informed them both.

Sharon wasn't mad as they were leaving the doctor's office, but as they walked back down that hallway towards the elevators, the silence was killing Andy. "Please talk, say something?" Andy spoke to her as they rode down in the elevator. "What do you want me to say?" she asked him and that's when he saw the hurt in her eyes.

He took a deep breath as they stepped out of the elevator and headed over to where they had parked the car. This is exactly what he didn't want and was trying to explain to her at dinner tonight. "You're mad at me?" Andy said, straight to the point as he opened her car door. She stepped in and sat down. "I'm not mad at you," she muttered as he closed her car door and walked over to the driver's side.

Andy slipped inside and eased behind the steering wheel. He didn't start the car because he thought Sharon and him should clear the air first. "I'm not mad at you, Andy," Sharon told him but her voice faltered into a whisper. "I just wish you would have told me about your dream this morning when I had asked you, that's all," Sharon stated and he nodded. "I'm sorry," he muttered as he looked her in the eye.

"Don't you trust me?" she asked him. "Of course I do!" he pleaded with her in a voice barely above a whisper. He took her hand in his and held it between his two hands. "Sharon, I trust you with everything," he added. "Then how come you didn't tell me when I asked you this morning?" she said, taking a deep breath of her own.

"I didn't want to bog you down with a stupid dream, or worry you too much because you need to focus on recovering and getting better," Andy told her, lowering his chin to his chest, hanging his head. "Andy?" she lifted his chin like she had so many other times before. "Hmm?" he grunted, now looking at her again. "You can always tell me whatever it is that's bothering you or whatever you dreamt about," she said and he nodded, hesitantly.

"Let's go home, see how the evening went with the rest of the gang, okay?" Sharon told him and he started the car. "Yes ma'am," he gave her a smile. She smiled back at him and all of a sudden, it seemed like everything was right again between them.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Sorry for such a delay in between postings. Real life has gotten in the way here and I had to take care of a couple of things. Thanks for your patience and understandings. There will be one more chapter after this one, and then a possible new story that I have a certain idea for.

Chapter 15

Andy pulled the car into the driveway and parked it in the garage. He met Sharon at the door and walked with her up to the house. It was almost bed time for Matthew and Sharon had hoped that he was at least wearing his pajamas. Andy unlocked the door and they both stepped inside, Sharon moving to the kitchen and Andy locking up behind them.

Sharon walked into the kitchen and placed her purse down on the counter. Andy walked up behind her and placed his arms around her, pulling her back into his chest. "Thank you for coming with me tonight," he whispered into her ear. "You're welcome," she looked up at him and smiled. He let go of her and she made her way into the family room.

Andy stayed in the kitchen and got a glass down from the cabinet, filling it with some orange juice from the fridge. Sharon stepped into the family room and found Emily, Matthew, and Rusty all watching television. She cleared her throat to get their attention. "Mom, you're home," Emily quickly turned the television off. Matthew looked up at Sharon and knew she was mad because he was still grounded from watching television.

"Matthew, is your homework all finished?" she asked him as he got up off the couch. "Yes," he said as he gave her a hug. "Okay, let's go over it together," she told him and led him into the dining room where she had seen his backpack and school items. Rusty looked over at Emily and cringed. "See, told you it was a bad move to let him watch TV with us," he told her, standing up from his chair and cleaning up the bowl of popcorn.

"She'll get over it," Emily muttered to him and grabbed the glasses off of the coffee table and took them into the kitchen. "Hey, how was dinner?" Andy asked Rusty and Emily as they walked into the kitchen carrying their items. "Oh, it was fun," Rusty said. "Oh really? Where did you go?" Andy asked them, wondering where the three of them went.

"Chuck E Cheese," Rusty smiled and Andy laughed. "You guys went to Chuck E Cheese?" he chuckled. "What's wrong with that?" Emily wondered as she placed the glasses in the sink. "Nothing's wrong with it, I just thought you guys were a little too old for that place," Andy placed his hands on his hips. "Well, your son chose that place and we had a good time," Emily stated.

"Yeah, both Matthew and I beat Emily at the skee-ball game," Rusty said, proud of that achievement and wanted to rub it in Emily's face again. "Oh yes, ha ha, so you won at some game," Emily teased him and Andy watched the two of them go back and forth. "Okay, enough guys. Did Matthew enjoy it?" Andy wondered about if he had a good time.

"He had a blast, oh and just for the record, it was Emily's idea that Matthew could watch TV with us tonight when we got home," Rusty told Andy and he gave him a look. "Good night all," Rusty walked out of the kitchen and closed the back door behind him. Andy then looked at Emily, and knew that if Sharon walked in on them all watching TV, when Matthew was supposed to still be grounded, she probably wasn't going to be happy.

"How did your session go, you know, with the shrink?" Emily asked him. "Um, fine, it went fine, thanks for asking," he answered her and started to walk towards the dining room. "Well, I'm going to head upstairs, I got a big day ahead of me tomorrow," Emily told him. "Oh yeah, that's right, good luck with your audition tomorrow," Andy told her and stepped into the dining room to see Sharon going over Matthew's homework with him.

He leaned against the door frame, watching her check his math homework. She pointed at some problem on the paper and Matthew started erasing whatever it was and then wrote down a new answer. As he was doing this, Sharon glanced up and looked at Andy. She gave him a small smile and he smiled back at her. "I'm going to take Moxie out one more time before we head to bed," he informed her and then grabbed the leash and called the dog's name.

Moxie came running into the kitchen from where ever he was sleeping and Andy placed the leash on the dog and took him out for a short walk from the driveway to the front sidewalk. On the walk, he thought about what Doctor Peters said about being afraid of losing Sharon. "Well who wouldn't be?" he mumbled to himself as he walked Moxie along the sidewalk. Moxie did his business and they started to head back inside the house.

Andy locked up the back door once inside the house and made his way through the kitchen to the dining room but Sharon and Matthew were not there anymore. Andy sighed and walked towards the family room, still not seeing them. "I guess they went upstairs," he muttered to the dog and then Moxie ran up the stairs before Andy.

Sharon was in Matthew's room. He was in bed and she was sitting on the edge of it. "I never did get a chance to ask you how your session with Doctor Joe went today," she spoke softly as he laid there. "It was okay," he shrugged his shoulders. "Just okay?" she asked him. She was giving him the opportunity to talk about it.

"We talked about when you and Daddy were looking for me. Do you remember that day?" he asked her as Sharon sat on his bed. "I do remember that day. I remember that Daddy and I and the rest of the team were searching for you because we wanted you to be safe. And when we found you in that house by yourself, with Moxie, I was relieved," she told him.

"Why were you relieved?" he asked as he hugged his teddy bear. "Well, because I knew as soon as we found you, that you would be safe and wouldn't be out on your own anymore," she smiled, pushing his hair back from his eyes. "Your hair is getting long, I think it might be time for a haircut soon," she stated as she moved her hand away from his head.

"We talked about my adoption too," he muttered and Sharon nodded. "What about it?" she wondered if he had any questions. "Just that you and Daddy love me and that was a big reason in why you adopted me," he said into his teddy bear. "Matthew, you know that we do love you very much and we wanted you to be a part of our family, don't ever doubt that," she told him as he sat up. Moxie came into the room and jumped on the bed, settling down next to Matthew.

Sharon gave Matthew a smile and kissed his forehead. "Good night sweetie," she told him. "Night Mom," he told her. Andy stood at the door frame and walked in Matthew's room. "Good night kiddo," he told him. "Night Dad," Matthew gave him a small wave and turned over to pet Moxie. Andy looked at Sharon as she walked out of the room.

"I just want to speak to Emily for a little bit, I'll be there in just a moment," she told him, running her hand down his tie. "Sure," he nodded and watched her walk towards the guest room. He, in turn, walked into their bedroom and got himself ready for bed.

Sharon knocked softly on the guest room door. "Emily?" she opened the door slightly to see Emily in bed, listening to music with her headphones. She smiled as she walked inside and sat down on the edge of her bed. Emily pulled her earphones out of her ears. "Listening to your music for tomorrow?" she asked her. "Yes, trying to get into the mood of the song," Emily told her as she sat up in bed.

"Thank you for taking Matthew out for dinner tonight," Sharon told her. "Oh, not a big deal Mom. We had a lot of fun," Emily said. "Were you mad that Matthew was watching TV with us when you guys got home?" she asked her and Sharon didn't know how to answer that. "Well, at first I was because I told you that Matthew was not allowed to watch TV because he was grounded from that, but I also thought it was good that he has some good bonding time with you and Rusty, and Ricky when he comes to visit," Sharon showed mixed emotions as she told this to Emily.

"How was Andy's session tonight?" Emily inquired since when she asked Andy before, he really didn't say much about it. "It was good. I think it helped a little with him," Sharon told her but she wasn't going to go into details about it. "Good night Mom," Emily gave her a hug and laid back down on the bed. "Good night, my sweetheart," Sharon sighed and stood up from the bed, walked out and closed the door behind her.

As Sharon entered their bedroom, Andy was in the bathroom, standing over the sink. His shirt was off and he was wearing his pajama pants. The sight brought a smile to her lips and she walked over to him. Andy was brushing his teeth when he saw Sharon saunter over to him. He finished up and patted a towel over his face.

Sharon looked him over and saw the various scars that were on his chest, shoulders, and arms. She lightly touched over them with her fingers, looking into his eyes as she did so. "Did tonight help you?" she asked him. "Yeah it did," he nodded and reveled in her touch. "Good, I'm glad," she said and walked out of the bathroom and into their closet to change out of her clothes.

She left Andy there, standing, pulling on his earlobe. He shook his head, took one more look at himself in the mirror, and walked back into the bedroom. He tossed a t-shirt over his head as Sharon was changing her clothes. She walked into the bathroom and finished getting ready. She started putting lotion on her arms and legs. Andy would never get tired of watching her do that.

He climbed into bed and waited for her to be done. She turned off the bathroom light and the bedroom light, leaving the light on the nightstand on. She climbed into bed and settled into Andy's left side. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. They laid there for a couple of minutes, not talking.

"I wouldn't be fine if I lost you," Sharon said, breaking the silence in the room. Andy turned his head to look at her. "You said you know I'd be fine without you, that I would be able to go on and continue every day," Sharon sighed as she nuzzled her head into the crook of his shoulder. Andy just laid there, listening to her. "I wouldn't be fine. I love you with all of my heart, and if by any chance, something did happen to you, and you were no longer here with me, it would be a struggle for me too," she confessed to him.

Andy pulled her closer and whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry babe, that I made it seem that you would go on without caring about me," he held her and she sniffled into his shoulder. "I didn't mean to downplay the thought of losing me that you would go on as if nothing happened, that wasn't my intent at all, and I'm sorry," he told her as she moved her head and kissed his neck, where the scar from his blood clot surgery was located.

She closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of him, which brought her a sense of calm. "You know eventually, it will happen, one of us is going to leave the other one, not by choice," she told him. "I'm hoping that isn't for a very long time, Sharon," he said as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "Me too," she whispered and closed her eyes again. There was silence again for a couple of minutes before Andy spoke.

"Is our marriage okay?" he muttered as he held her close to him. He could tell she was still awake, even if her eyes were closed at this point. "Hmm," Sharon mumbled as she placed her hand on his chest. "Andy, we both know what a bad marriage can be like, and I think that our marriage to each other is a normal, healthy, marriage. We agree and disagree on certain things, we talk through them, and we make up. We enjoy each other's company, and know when the other person is hurting. We want to bring comfort and joy to each other and protection, so to answer your question, Andrew Flynn, yes, our marriage is more than okay," Sharon leaned over and kissed his lips.

"I love you," he interrupted their kissing to tell her that. She kissed him again. "I love you too," she broke apart and smiled at him. She laid her head back down on his shoulder and he resumed rubbing his hand gently up and down her left side. She was able to relax and so did he, drifting off to a better night's sleep.

Friday and the weekend went by quickly and suddenly it was Monday morning. Sharon woke up to Andy already in the shower. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was 5:45 in the morning. She rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out and unwrapped herself from the lone bed sheet. She leaned over and grabbed her robe, tying it around her body as she stood up and walked over to their closet.

She wanted to wear something comfortable, yet business like since after her tests and doctor's appointment, they were most likely heading into the office. She heard Andy turn the water off and the glass door opening so she knew he was finished with his shower. The door to the bathroom opened and Andy walked out, wearing a towel around his waist. As he stepped around the corner, he saw Sharon figuring out what to wear and he smiled.

She caught his eye as she glanced over at him and returned his smile. "Did the shower wake you?" he asked her, in a low voice as he made his way past her to pick out some clothes. "No, I don't know what woke me but I saw that you were already up and then I glanced at the clock and decided that I probably needed to get myself ready," she told him as she brought her clothes with her to the bathroom.

He looked over the different suits he had hanging up and wanted to wear something nice, but casual to her doctor's appointment. He wanted to surprise her after her tests and everything and had already arraigned with Provenza that they would not be coming in after she was done with her doctor's appointment. However, she didn't know that.

Picking out a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt would give his plans of not going into the office away as soon as she would see him. He started to get dressed in a pair of boxers and a white t-shirt. He heard the shower turn off and knew that Sharon would be getting herself dressed in the bathroom. He decided to open the door, slightly to see what type of outfit she was wearing to her appointment.

Sharon looked over at him as the door opened and she was standing in front of the mirror, wearing her robe. Steam was still in the air from her shower and he gave her his sheepish smile. "Yes?" she said to him in her usual manner. "Oh, nothing," he said as he looked at her. She titled her head at him and knew that he was keeping something in the back of his mind.

Andy looked around the bathroom to see if he could tell what clothes she was going to wear as Sharon tended to herself. "Um, what outfit were you going to wear this morning?" he asked her. "Hmm, well, I wanted to wear something comfortable but also appropriate for working later," she told him and he wasn't surprised that she wanted to go into the office after she was done with her appointment.

"Well, may I suggest something a little on the casual side?" he offered her, and he thought that if she wore something casual, that would allow him to wear casual as well. Sharon looked at him again, and shook her head. "Are you planning something, Andy?" she asked as she turned around fully to speak to him.

"Uh," he paused as he looked at her eyes. He couldn't lie to her, but he still wanted to surprise her, even if she didn't totally like surprises. "Well, I know you don't like surprises," he started to tell her and was surprised when she didn't object as soon as he said that. "But, I wanted to take you somewhere after your doctor's appointment and your tests, just so that, you know, you and I can be us," he said, hoping she wouldn't object to his suggestion.

"Hmm? Does Provenza know you plan on not returning me to work after my appointment this morning?" she asked as she walked closer to him and ran her hand up his back. "I took care of it, babe," he muttered as she laid her head on his chest and he circled his arms around her. She settled into his arms. "I think that sounds wonderful," she told him and he smiled.

"Then, maybe after a week or so, depending on how work goes, maybe you and I can get away for a little bit," Andy said as he rubbed his hands up and down her back. She hummed at the thought of the two of them being able to get away. "That sounds great as well but, what about Matthew?" she asked as she moved her head to look up at him.

"We could either take him with us on a trip, or I could talk to Nicole and see if he could stay overnight with them," Andy suggested and Sharon thought about it. "Hmm, well before we decide, we should sit down with him, just the three of us and talk about some things," she walked away from him to continue getting herself ready for the day.

"Like what exactly?" Andy asked her as he watched her start to fix her hair. "We talked about some of the things that Doctor Joe and he have discussed last night while you were taking Moxie out," Sharon brushed her hair. "Oh, are things going okay?" Andy asked as he leaned up against the wall to watch her. "I think so. He's making some progress, I think," she turned to him, giving him a small smile, and finished fixing her hair and getting dressed.

Andy nodded and turned around to go back to their closet and picked out what he had wanted to wear in the first place: his jeans, button-down dress shirt, and his leather jacket. After he was dressed, and while Sharon was still getting herself ready, he walked across the hallway and knocked on Matthew's door, opening it slightly, seeing the light was already on and his bed was empty.

"Matthew?" he called out and then saw Moxie walk over to him, wagging his tail. "Hey buddy," he patted the dog on his head as he walked further into the room. He then noticed Matthew in his closet, sitting on the floor. Andy stood there watching him for a brief second before he knelt down in front of him. "You okay, kiddo?" he asked him and Matthew looked up at Andy.

"Yeah, I was just sitting here, thinking about stuff," he said as he stood up, still in his pajamas. "Uh, like what?" he asked him, and moved to the side. "I remember the day when you and Mommy found me, Doctor Joe asked me about that day, and I was just thinking about it again," Matthew said and moved to get his school uniform together.

"I remember that day," Andy stood up and walked to the chair in Matthew's room and sat down. "When we found you, you clung to my side and didn't want me to leave," he continued as Matthew stood there. Andy sat there for a few minutes before he stood up and walked over to where Matthew was standing. "Go get dressed and ready for school, Mommy has a doctor's appointment this morning, so we need to leave on time today," Andy patted him on his back and Matthew took his uniform into the bathroom down the hall.

Andy saw Sharon walk out of their room and he took a deep breath as he looked at her. "You look amazing," he whispered to her as he walked over and grabbed her hands in his. "Thank you," she smiled, biting her lower lip, a nervous habit of hers that still drove Andy crazy all this time. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Matthew's getting himself ready, why don't you head downstairs and I'll make us all breakfast," he said and she nodded to him.

"First I want to make sure Emily is up," she told him and he stood there in the hallway watching her walk to the guest room. He turned his head and saw Moxie standing there, wagging his tail. "Come on," he said to the dog and they both went downstairs.

Sharon knocked on Emily's door. "Come in," she heard as she opened the door to the guest bedroom. "Hey sweetie," Sharon moved closer to Emily's bed. "I just wanted to make sure you're up and wish you luck this morning," she leaned down and kissed Emily's forehead. "You're going to do great!" she told her and Emily smiled.

"Thanks Mom," she yawned as she stretched her arms over her head. "Good luck today with your test," Emily told her as she watched her walked back towards the door. Sharon smiled and nodded. She was still nervous about this test but didn't want to let Emily know that. "Andy said he's making breakfast if you want some," she told her, but Emily declined. Sharon stepped out of the room and saw Matthew walking down the hallway towards his room.

"Are you almost ready?" she said, which startled him. "Yes," he quickly said and ran into his room, dropping his clothes on his bed and shutting the lights off. He met Sharon by the stairs and they both went downstairs and towards the kitchen.

Andy was standing by the stove cooking scrambled eggs when Sharon and Matthew joined him. Matthew walked over to the counter and brought the juice container over to the table. "Thank you," Sharon told him as she watched him while Andy placed the scrambled eggs into a serving bowl. "Andy, you made enough eggs here for an army!" Sharon's eyes widened at the sight. Andy chuckled as he handed the bowl to Sharon.

He waited for the toast to be ready before he joined the rest of them at the kitchen table. "Is Emily joining us?" he asked Sharon as she took a piece of toast from the plate. "No, she gets in the zone before an audition and its good luck trying to break her out of it," Sharon explained. "Sounds like someone else I know," Andy said as he ate.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks to all of you for your wonderful reviews of this story. Here is the next chapter, but not the final one...

Chapter 16

Sharon and Andy walked from the car to the main entrance of the hospital. He opened the door and Sharon walked through, grabbing his hand as he came up next to her again. They continued walking down the corridor towards the outpatient radiology area. The waiting area was big with chairs and couches. Andy glanced around the room and noticed people sitting there waiting for their loved ones or for tests themselves.

Sharon walked over to the check-in counter, telling the patient intake person that she was here for a CT scan for Doctor Fishman. The woman looked up her information on the computer and then gave her a wrist band with her name and information on it, wrapping it around her left wrist. "Okay, just have a seat there and someone will be with you shortly to take you back to another room," the woman informed her and Sharon nodded, turning to Andy, and he led her to one of the chairs to sit in.

He noticed that her hand was cold and as they both sat there, she took a deep breath. Andy wiggled her hand a little bit. "Hey, you're going to be fine," he reassured her and himself, for that matter that she was going to be okay. A routine test, he thought to himself, to see if her spleen had returned to normal after two weeks of the gunshot wound trauma. He sat there next to her, holding her hand and placing his other hand on top, hoping that his warmth would be enough as they waited.

"Are you going to tell me what you had in mind for after my test and doctor's visit?" Sharon asked him as they sat there. She wanted something to look forward to as they waited, perhaps it would help her to keep her mind off of the test itself, even though the CT test was not invasive. "Hmm, well I will tell you that it involves being outside and walking around," Andy chuckled as he rubbed her hand.

They waited another 15 minutes before Sharon heard her name being called by one of the technicians. "Sharon Flynn?" they called out and Sharon began to stand up, with Andy following her. "Hi Sharon, my name is Stephanie and I'm going to take you to another room where you'll change into a gown and wait for your test," she explained to Sharon and Sharon nodded.

"Um, could I go with my wife?" Andy asked Stephanie as he stood next to Sharon. "Sure, Mister Flynn, we are just going to go back to her own cubicle and you can wait there for her while she's at her test," Stephanie informed him as the three of them walked down another corridor and into another set of rooms.

They walked to an open room where Stephanie placed a gown for Sharon to change into on the bed and also placed some socks for her to wear next to the gown. "Okay, here's a gown for you to change into and also some socks for you to wear, we don't want you to slip as you walk," she smiled and then closed the curtain behind her when she left the room.

Andy looked at Sharon as she took off her watch and jewelry. "Would you like me to step out a minute while you change into your gown?" he asked her, sheepishly. "No, Andy, you can stay," she smiled at him, knowing that he wanted to stay but gave her the option anyways. She handed him her clothes and he placed them neatly in the bag that was provided. He then held up the gown for her and she slipped her arms into the holes, tying the gown in back for her.

She sat down on the bed and laid back. He helped place a blanket over her, knowing that she would be cold just laying there, waiting. Andy sat down next to her on a chair. "Here we are again," she mumbled to him and he gave her questionable look. "I mean one of us in a hospital while the other one waits," Sharon stated. He smiled, but before he could say anything, two other technicians walked into her room and Andy stood up.

"Hello, I'm Mary and this is Donna, we are going to be taking you for your CT scan," Mary told Sharon as Andy watched them. "Can you tell me your name?" she asked Sharon. "Sharon Flynn," she told them as they maneuvered around the room. They checked her wrist band as a double check. "Okay, so the procedure should take about 45 minutes because the doctor ordered it with contrast," Mary informed them both. "Oh, okay," Andy muttered as he looked at Sharon.

Andy reached out for Sharon's hand before they wheeled her away to the other room. "I'll be right here, waiting," he told her and leaned down, kissing her forehead. "Okay," she gave him her smile and he watched them wheel her out of the room and down the hallway. He returned to the room and sat down on the chair. He reached over to the table where her rings and watch were sitting on top and grabbed her wedding rings, placing them on his pinky finger for safe keeping.

He pulled out his phone and texted Emily 'good luck!' before she left for her audition. Next, he searched for short getaways for Sharon and him to go on. That lasted only a few minutes before he stopped and took a deep breath, and looked over to the area where they had just taken Sharon through. He saw other people being wheeled in and out of the area; the place was busy for a Monday morning.

Sharon was lying on the gurney bed as they wheeled her around to the other room. She got tired of seeing the overhead lights whizzing past her so she decided to close her eyes for a brief minute. They wheeled her into the room and Sharon noticed that it was even colder in this room, if that was even possible.

"Okay, Sharon, we are going to help you transfer over to the other bed there," Mary informed her before they moved her. "Okay," Sharon swallowed and laid still as they moved her. She really hadn't been feeling any pain for a couple of days now and felt just a slight twinge as they moved her. "You doing okay?" Mary asked her.

"Yes," Sharon replied and moved her gown to straighten it a little. "Okay, we are going to set up the IV with contrast now. You should feel a little pinch as we insert the needle but it will only last a brief second," she explained as she started to insert the IV into Sharon's arm. Donna hung up the contrast bag on the IV pole and Sharon started to feel colder.

"Would you like a warm blanket?" Mary asked her and Sharon nodded. Mary went to a heat storage and opened it, pulling out a blanket for Sharon to have. As soon as the blanket was over her, she started to feel to warmer. "Okay, we have to wait about 15 minutes for the contrast to go through your body, but we will be staying with you throughout the process," she told Sharon as she squeezed her right hand, reassuring her.

Andy stared at the clock on the wall in the small makeshift room. It had been about 30 minutes since they took Sharon back. He looked at his phone again, but there were no new messages. As if the texting gods were working in his favor, Andy received a text message from Provenza. He was wondering how he was doing as he waited for Sharon. He knew that Andy would be worried as he sat there by himself.

Back in the CT scan room, Sharon was all set and ready for the procedure to begin. She was lying on the table now as it slowly moved her into the center of the machine. "Okay Sharon, we are going to start the test now so I will let you know when I need you to take a deep breath and hold it for about 10 seconds," the technician spoke to her over the speaker and she nodded. Sharon waited until she was inside the machine before she closed her eyes.

"Okay Sharon, take a deep breath for me and hold it," the technician said and Sharon did. She heard the machine making noises and held her breath for the 10 seconds, listening for when the technician next spoke over the speaker to her. As her eyes were closed, she thought about everything that had been happening the last two weeks while she had been at home.

"Alright Sharon, we are done and got some good pictures of your spleen, I will be moving you out of the machine now," she heard them say and she felt herself being moved. The two technicians stepped back into the room and helped transfer Sharon back onto the gurney bed.

He responded to Provenza's message as he waited for Sharon to return back. 'I'm fine, just hate waiting for this' was the message he sent. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Ten minutes later he heard a gurney moving closer to him and he opened his eyes to see Sharon being wheeled back into the room. She smiled at him as the technicians moved her around. Andy stood up to give them room.

They helped Sharon sit up and then left the area as they were finished. "How was it?" Andy asked her as he helped her change back into her clothing. "I was cold in there, especially when they were giving me the dye contrast," she told him as he held her shirt up. "The technician said they got some good pictures so hopefully," Sharon started to say but stopped as she looked at Andy.

"What?" Andy gave her a concerned look. Her lip quivered and she leaned forward into his chest. Andy hugged her close to him. "I just want this to be over with and back to normal," she mumbled into his clothing. Andy rubbed her back. "Everything's gonna be just fine, I promise you," he reassured her, wondering where all of this was coming from. She nodded and then he helped her continue to get herself dressed.

Before she left the room, a nurse stopped by with some paperwork and told them how to get to Doctor Fishman's office from the hospital. "Thank you," Sharon told her as they left the room and walked back down the corridor they came in from. As they made their way to the lobby of the hospital, Andy looked around and then pointed to the direction of where they had to go. He held her hand as they walked over to the professional building and to the doctor's office.

Andy stopped Sharon before they entered the office door. "I love you," he kissed her cheek and opened the door, allowing Sharon to step inside the office first before he followed her in. She went to the receptionist's desk and signed in. She turned to see Andy waiting for her to have a seat and she did. He sat next to her and they waited. "Mrs. Flynn?" the nurse said as she opened the door. "That was quick," Sharon muttered as she stood up with Andy. She gave a small smile to the nurse as she walked through the door and followed her to an exam room.

Sharon took off her sweater and handed it to Andy. "Did you have the CT scan this morning?" the nurse asked Sharon as she brought a blood pressure machine with them into the room. "Yes, maybe a half hour ago?" Sharon told her. "Good, we should have the results soon then," the nurse said as she placed the blood pressure cuff on Sharon's arm. The machine read Sharon's blood pressure along with her oxygen level and pulse rate. "115 over 68," the nurse said as she took off the cuff and moved the machine out of the way.

"He's going to want you to change into a gown, just makes it easier. You can leave your pants on," the nurse told Sharon and then left the room. Andy took Sharon's shirt as she removed it and handed her the gown. She put it on and sat back on the exam table. She folded her arms in front of her. "Is there a rule that says you must make all doctor's exam rooms cold for their patients?" she asked and Andy smiled.

He handed Sharon her sweater and helped put it over the gown she was wearing. "She said you had to wear the gown, didn't say you couldn't wear something over it," he shrugged his shoulders at her. "So, do you want to tell me where you are taking me after this?" she asked as they waited. "Only if you describe to me what it is that you bought yourself when you went shopping with Emily," he grinned and she swatted her hand at his shoulder.

"What?" he chuckled as the door opened and Doctor Fishman walked in. "Sharon, hello, nice to see you again," he said as he sat down on the stool in the room. "Hello Doctor," she answered him as she sat nervously on the table. "Lieutenant," Doctor Fishman shook Andy's hand and Andy smiled in return.

Doctor Fishman then placed some pictures of the CT scan up onto the board to show the both of them. "So, how have you been feeling this past week?" he asked Sharon as he turned around to look at her. "I've been feeling okay, no more dizziness, and the pain has really subsided," Sharon told him. "That's good!" Doctor Fishman said and turned his attention to the pictures.

"So, this is your spleen today, and this was your spleen two weeks ago when you were in the hospital," Doctor Fishman pointed to the two pictures. "Your spleen has returned back to a normal size, you can see here that the swelling did go down like we hoped it would," he explained to them. Andy listened to the doctor and was expecting him to say 'but' with some bad news. He glanced at Sharon and gave her a smile.

Sharon cleared her throat as she listened to her doctor finish speaking. "But," she said and Doctor Fishman turned around to look at her. "But, I still want you to take it easy for the next couple of weeks. Light duty only, no going to crime scenes or chasing suspects, got it?" he informed her and Andy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh don't worry doc, I'll keep an eye on her and make sure she stays close to her desk the next few weeks," Andy chuckled slightly as Sharon glanced at him. She turned to the doctor and smiled. "You can resume normal activities at home," the doctor said, not wanting to embarrass them. Hearing that brought a slight smile to Andy's face.

Just then, another nurse knocked on the door and entered the room. "This is Gina, she's going to draw some blood so we can see how you're doing on that avenue," Doctor Fishman explained and Gina walked in with her blood draw supplies.

Sharon took off her sweater with the help of Andy and gave Gina her left arm. She was able to pull three separate vials of blood from Sharon and then left the room. Doctor Fishman wheeled his stool over to the table where Sharon was sitting and he pulled out his stethoscope.

"I want to take a listen to everything while I got you here," he told her as he placed the stethoscope on her chest. He listened to her lungs and her heart. He pulled the stethoscope out of his ears and placed it behind his neck. "Okay, I'm going to push in on your abdomen and side, please let me know if you have any kind of pain when I do it," he told her and she nodded, laying back on the table.

Doctor Fishman felt Sharon's abdomen and checked her responsiveness. "Okay Sharon, I'd like to see you back here in a month, just for a check-up," he informed her and Andy as he moved around the exam room. "I should have your blood test results in a couple of hours, and if everything is okay, then my nurse will call you to let you know. If something shows up, she will also call you," he told them as Andy stood next to Sharon, who was still sitting on the exam table.

"What would show up?" Sharon asked him. "If your platelets are still on the lower side, I'm hoping they won't be, but I want to make sure," he told her. "What happens if they are still on the low side?" Andy asked him. "Well, we will then have to figure out a course of action, but like I said before, let's take one step at a time. We got your spleen to go back to normal size, so hopefully your blood work will come back within normal ranges also," Doctor Fishman told them as he opened the door.

"Remember, light duty at work and I'll see you in a month," Doctor Fishman shook their hands and left the exam room. "Great, one more thing to worry about," Sharon said as she sat there. "Hey, everything's going to work out," Andy helped her put her clothes back on as she took her gown off. She got dressed and they left the room, with Sharon leading the way to the receptionist area. She made an appointment for a month later and they both walked out of the office and returned to the car.

Andy glanced at his watch as he opened the car door for Sharon. It was almost noon by the time they left. Sharon sat in the car and Andy went around to the drivers' side and got in, starting the car. He turned and looked at Sharon and reached for her hand. "So I thought we would go to the beach," he told her and she leaned her head back against the head rest and smiled at him.

Andy turned back and pulled out of the parking space, not letting go of Sharon's hand as he drove them towards the beach.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks to all of you for your wonderful reviews of this story and sticking with it in between my long updates. Here is the last chapter of this story. Tomorrow I'm headed on vacation so there won't be a new story for a while. Perhaps towards the end of April beginning of May, the next story should be appearing! Take care everyone and thank you again!

Chapter 17

Sharon was told to sit in the car while Andy ran into the restaurant they liked by the beach. She looked out the car window and watched the birds flying by with the occasional jogger running down the path. It was hardly busy for a Monday, even though the weather today felt more like a late summer than late fall. She saw Andy step out of the restaurant carrying a plastic bag and smiled.

Andy walked to the back of the car and opened the lift gate, placing the plastic bag inside a picnic basket that was back there. After he was done re-arranging some items, he closed the lift gate and got in the driver's side once again. Starting the car, he gave Sharon a smirk and she started to laugh. "What's so funny?" he asked her before they pulled out onto the street.

"Nothing," she smiled and grasped his hand in hers as he drove them to a spot closer to the beach. He parked the car and got out, walking around to open Sharon's door. She took his hand as she stepped out of the car and he pulled her into his embrace, gently kissing her lips. They broke apart and smiled at each other. "I kind of like this," Sharon whispered to him.

"You kind of like what?" he asked her as they both walked to the back of the car. "This, you and me, all of it," Sharon said as she motioned with her hand at their surroundings. "Well, I'm glad, because we are going to have a picnic here," Andy said as he opened the lift gate and grabbed the picnic basket and blanket that was in the back.

"When did you grab that?" Sharon asked in wonder. "While you were still talking to Emily before we took Matthew to school," he shrugged his shoulders. They started to walk towards the beach, Andy carrying the picnic basket while Sharon carried the blanket for them. They found a nice spot on the beach. Sharon spread the blanket and Andy helped her. He placed the basket down on the blanket and knelt down beside it, taking the food out.

Andy pulled out a bottle container and Sharon gave him a look as she sat down. "You brought a bottle of wine?" she asked him and he shook his head. "Sparkling grape juice," he answered as he showed her the chilled bottle. "Oh, what are we celebrating?" she asked him, smiling at his subtleness. "You and me, and us getting back to normalness," he told her as he poured the sparkling juice in two plastic cups.

They clanked their plastic cups together and took a sip of the sparkling juice. Andy placed his cup down and handed Sharon a container of food. "Your lunch, my dear," he smiled and she pulled her bottom lip in as she took the container of food from him. "Thank you," she whispered as she watched Andy settle next to her with his food container.

She opened it and saw that he had gotten her one of her favorites from the restaurant. They sat there, eating their lunch, enjoying each other's company.

After they were done eating, Sharon moved to sit in front of Andy and leaned her back into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and they watched the ocean waves crashing into the beach. "This is very relaxing," she told him. "I'm glad you are enjoying this," he whispered into her ear which sent a shiver down her spine.

Andy stood up a half hour later and helped Sharon stand up as well. "What are you doing?" she asked him as she watched him pull out his phone, searching for something on it, and placed it on the blanket. A song started to play from his phone and she shook her head at him. Suddenly she was overwhelmed with emotion as he grabbed her hands and pulled her in for a dance.

The song was Unforgettable by Nat King Cole and the last time she heard it played, they were dancing together in the beach house up in Monterrey, before Stroh showed up. Just like Andy did that night, he started singing along with the song, whispering the words into Sharon's ear. She sniffled and Andy wiped a tear from her eye. "Sharon?" he asked wondering if she was ok.

"I'm okay," she assured him, as she smiled at him. "I love you so, so much," she told him, her voice cracking from emotion. "Ah, babe, I love you too," he kissed her and they stopped dancing once the song was over. He pulled her in and she rested her head against his chest. The wind was starting to pick up a little bit, which brought a cooler ocean breeze where they were standing.

Sharon started to tremble a little in his arms as he held her tighter to him. "You cold?" he asked and she nodded yes. He gave her his jacket and she put it around herself. "We can head back home if you want," he told her as they stood there together. "I'd like that," she smiled which spoke volumes to Andy as he looked at her.

He quickly gathered their items and threw them all into the picnic basket. He fumbled with the blanket and threw that haphazardly into the basket as well. Sharon giggled at the sight before her and they walked back towards the car. Andy placed everything in the back section and he held the door for Sharon while she got inside the car.

Just as Andy got himself situated behind the steering wheel, Sharon's cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and saw it was the doctor's office calling her back. She took a deep breath and Andy now had a worried look on his face. "It's the doctor's office," she said and then answered her phone. "Hello?" she said and listened to the nurse on the other end of the phone. Andy sat there and listened to what Sharon was saying to the nurse. After a minute or two, she hung up her phone.

"My blood work is normal," Sharon said and Andy let out the breath he was holding. "Oh babe, that's wonderful news," he smiled at her and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. She laughed, it had been such an emotional day for her, and she felt both relief and happiness. "Do you still want to go home?" he asked her as he started the car.

She thought about all the other places they could go, but home seemed ideal for what she had in mind. She nodded to him. "Yes," she simply said and he graciously obliged her, pulling out of the parking space and headed towards their house. It was still early enough in the afternoon that traffic wouldn't be too bad.

Sharon turned in her seat so that she would have better access to Andy's right arm as he drove them. She started to unbutton the cuff of his long sleeve shirt and as they pulled up to a stop sign, he gave her a questioning look. "Easy access to your arm," she stated to him as he continued to drive. Sharon ran her fingers up his bare skin on his arm.

After about five minutes of her fingers running up and down his arm, Andy blew out air from his mouth. "Sharon, sweetie, if you don't stop that, I'm going to have to pull the car over and I won't be held responsible for what happens after that," he gruffed and she stopped teasing his wrist. She smiled and intertwined her fingers with his right hand.

Sharon looked out the window and saw very little traffic on the 405 heading north as they got on the freeway. They made it home in record time. Andy received some questionable looks from Sharon on the ride back because he was going a little over the speed limit at some points, but he didn't care. The doctor had cleared Sharon to resume light duty at work, normal activities at home, and her blood work came back normal. He was excited and he was sure she was as well as they pulled into the driveway.

Neither one of them saw that Sharon's car was in the garage as they pulled in. They had other things on their mind. Emily had taken Sharon's car to her rehearsal this morning. Andy turned the car off and got out, rushing over to the passenger side door, opening it and taking Sharon's hand in his. He pulled her in and they kissed, passionately. He held her up against the side of the car and she let out a slight grunt.

Andy opened his eyes when he heard Sharon. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling away from her to look at her face. "Yes," she whispered as she caressed his cheek with her right hand. "Sorry," he muttered as he continued to kiss her lips, moving down to the side of her neck. Sharon closed her eyes as his lips traced over her neck.

"Andy," she called his name. "Yes?" he whispered as he caressed her sides with his hands, still kissing her neck. "Let's go inside our house," she told him as he moved his head to look at her. "Okay," he whispered and then led her towards the back door of the house. He fumbled with his keys and she let out a small chuckle.

He seemed nervous like it was their first date as he reached for the door to unlock it. As he did that, Sharon took over and pushed him inside the door, closing it behind them and running her hands up his chest. Andy started taking of his jacket that she was still wearing from the beach as they made their way into the kitchen.

They got half way to the island in the kitchen when they heard Emily clearing her throat. "Mom!" she startled them and they quickly broke away from their kiss and embrace. "Emily! What are you doing back so soon?" Sharon asked her as she still held on to Andy's hand. Andy bowed his head and closed his eyes, trying not to laugh after Emily caught them making out.

"I'm all done with the try-out and I came back here to grab some lunch," she said as she looked at her mother and step-father. "I'll be right back," Andy said to them and quickly walked down the hallway. Sharon watched him leave her with Emily and when she turned back to her daughter, Emily saw that her mom had been embarrassed that she had been caught.

Sharon ran her fingers through her hair as she looked at her daughter. "So is this what you do when you play hooky from work?" Emily leaned forward across the island to tease her mom. Sharon bowed her head and shook it. "Mom, relax, it's not like I'm 10 catching you guys making out," she teased her again and Sharon let out a sigh as she looked up at her.

Sharon moved around the island to get herself a glass of water. "I take it your doctor's appointment went well and you got cleared for work, and other activities," Emily asked, smiling. "Yes, the doctor did clear me for light duty at work, and other normal activities at home," Sharon gave her a small smile as she took a sip of water.

Emily looked down the hallway for any sign of Andy returning. "How were your auditions sweetie?" Sharon quickly changed the subject. "Oh, they were fine. You know how drawn out they can be, dancing and such," Emily paused as she looked at her mom. "They hired me and I accepted," Emily smiled and Sharon squealed. "Oh! Sweetie, that's fantastic!" she said, hugging her. "My baby's moving back," Sharon whispered into Emily's hair.

Meanwhile, Andy was in the first floor bathroom, splashing cold water on his face and his hands, when he heard Sharon let out a squeal. He turned the water off and wiped his face with a towel before walking back towards the kitchen. He saw Sharon and Emily hugging.

"I take it this is good news?" Andy said interrupting the mother-daughter moment. Sharon looked over at him and nodded her head. Emily looked up at him as she broke away from her mom's embrace. "I've been hired to dance here in LA, and I accepted!" Emily told Andy and he was very happy for her. "That's wonderful news Emily!" Andy told her. "Thanks," she smiled at both of them as they stood in the kitchen.

Andy glanced at Sharon as Emily walked out of the kitchen and into the family room. He saw her take a deep breath and walked over to where she was standing. He held out his arms and she wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him.

"See, now all the kids will be in California," he muttered to her as he held her. She sighed in contentment. "Sorry we were interrupted earlier," she told him as she moved her head to look at his eyes. "Sharon, really, it's not a problem," he told her as he rubbed her back. "Besides, we can celebrate tonight, when all the kids are in bed," he kissed the top of her head again and she relaxed in his arms.

Later on that afternoon, Matthew was picked up at his school by Andy. "So, how was school today?" he asked him as they walked towards the car. "Fine," Matthew muttered as he opened the back door of the car and climbed in. Andy sighed as he watched Matthew close the door. He shook his head as he walked around to the driver's side and got in. "Are you taking me to see Doctor Joe?" Matthew asked him.

"Yes, I am taking you today," Andy told him as he started the car. "How come you're not at work now?" Matthew inquired as they started to pull out of the school parking lot. "Well, I went with mom to her doctor's appointment this morning, and then we took the rest of the day off," Andy simply said to him. "Oh," Matthew muttered as he looked out the window.

"How is Mommy doing?" he asked a few seconds later. "She's doing much better and the doctor is allowing her to return to work tomorrow," Andy told him as he stopped at a red light. "But, don't worry because she can only stay in the office for right now, and I'm going to make sure she follows that to the rule," Andy winked in the rear view mirror as Matthew looked over at him. He gave him a small smile and then continued to look out his passenger window.

Andy pulled into the parking garage at Doctor Joe's office and parked the car. He met Matthew at the other side of the car and they both walked into the building together. Andy could tell that Matthew's demeanor had changed since he picked him up from school. He seemed a lot happier and acting like a kid again as he ran ahead of Andy and opened the door to Doctor Joe's waiting area.

As Andy stepped into the waiting room, he saw Matthew at the receptionist's desk signing himself in. He smiled as Matthew turned around to look at him, waiting to be yelled at for running ahead, but when Andy sat down on one of the chairs, Matthew smiled back and sat down next to him.

"You seem to be in a better mood since I picked you up from school," Andy pointed out to Matthew and he just shrugged his shoulders. Before he could say anything else, the door opened and Doctor Joe was standing in the doorway. "Matthew, come on in," he greeted him and then glanced at Andy. "Lieutenant, it's good to see you," Doctor Joe shook Andy's hand as Andy walked over with Matthew.

Matthew walked inside the office while Doctor Joe and Andy spoke. "How's Sharon?" he asked him. "Um, she's doing a lot better, in fact, the doctor cleared her for light duty now," Andy said as he scratched his head with his finger. "That's good news to hear. Tell her I wish her my best, and we should be done in an hour, if you want to come back," Doctor Joe informed Andy and he nodded, giving a quick glance inside the office. He saw Matthew playing with some toy and Andy smiled as he left Doctor Joe's office.

He pulled out his phone and called Sharon as he walked down the hallway. "Hello?" she answered her phone. "Hey, Matthew's with Doctor Joe, he said to come back in an hour," he told her as he stood by a window in the hallway, overlooking the city. "Yeah, that's how long they usually are," she told him. "Do you normally wait for him in the waiting area when you took him?" he asked her. "Well, I wasn't allowed to do anything else so yeah, Emily and I waited for him there," he could tell she was smiling as he listened to her.

"Are you relaxing?" he asked her as he thought about how to spend the next hour. "I am, I'm sitting on the couch right now and Emily is on her computer looking up moving companies," she said as she glanced over at Emily and smiled. "The ballet company is paying to move her here, she just needs to figure out when and what company to use," Sharon added.

Andy scratched his head. "Where is she going to put all of her stuff from New York?" he wondered. "In storage first. I may have told her she could stay with us until she finds a permanent place here," she hesitated the last part which made Andy chuckle a bit. "That's fine Sharon. I don't have a problem with that. It's why we got the bigger house, right?" he told her. He was happy that Emily was moving back home to LA. "Yes," Sharon smiled into the phone.

Andy glanced at his watch. "Um, well if we want to make dinner, I better get to the grocery store and I'll come back and get Matthew, and then we will be home," Andy told her. "Okay, I love you," she smiled. Even though he couldn't see it, he returned her smile. "I love you too. See you in a bit," Andy said and hung up his phone.

He walked over to the elevator and pressed the button to call it. He figured he would cook something on the grill tonight, he just needed to figure out what exactly as he made his way out of the elevator and down to the parking garage. He got in his car and drove to the grocery store that was nearby.

An hour or so later, Andy and Matthew arrived home carrying in a few bags of groceries. "Just put them on the counter, buddy," Andy told Matthew as he placed them up on the island. Matthew did and then went searching for Sharon. He found her in the family room with Emily still.

"Hi Mommy!" he said as he sat down next to Sharon on the couch. "Well hello there, how was school and how was Doctor Joe?" Sharon asked as she scooted over to make room. "Good," Matthew wrapped his arm around Sharon's waist and gave her a side hug. She smiled at him as she put her arm around his back.

A few minutes later, Andy walked in to see what they were doing and leaned over the couch next to Sharon. "Hey so I thought we could fire up the grill since we have a lot to celebrate today," Andy told her and gave her a peck on her cheek. "Sounds good," Sharon smiled.

Andy prepped the grill outside on the patio and Sharon brought the food that they were going to grill out to him. "Matthew seems better today," she told him as she watched him take the food from her. "I noticed a change in him when I told him you were doing better and were cleared for work," Andy said as he placed the food on the grill top.

"I think Doctor Joe has really helped him," she smiled as she walked back into the house to grab some more things they would need. Andy watched her walk away into the house. Matthew ran out of the back door and Moxie was chasing him. He ran all over the yard and Moxie followed him until he stopped and laid down. "Moxie! Moxie" Matthew called but the dog was tired. Matthew gave up on getting the dog's attention and walked over to where Andy was by the grill.

"Everything good, Matthew?" Sharon asked as she came back out, followed by Emily. "Yes," he answered her and watched Andy tend to the grill. Sharon and Emily sat down on the bench in the yard and Matthew later joined them. Andy watched his family from the grill and a smile started to form on his face.

Later that night, after everything was put away from their celebratory dinner, Matthew went upstairs and Andy tucked him in bed. "I'm glad Mommy is feeling better," Matthew yawned as he climbed underneath the covers. "Me too kid, me too," Andy smiled and ruffled Matthew's hair. "Good night buddy," Andy said as he turned off the overhead light, leaving the lamp on the nightstand on. "Night," Matthew replied as Moxie settled down next to him.

Andy walked across the hallway to his and Sharon's room and noticed the bathroom door was closed. He went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a new white t-shirt. As he was making his way to the foot of the bed, Sharon came out of the bathroom wearing her new, green negligee and matching silk robe.

Andy dropped the clothes that he was holding as he watched Sharon step out of the bathroom. He took a deep breath as she came closer to him. "Wow!" he whispered as he reached for her and rested his hand on her cheek. "You like?" Sharon bit her lip, loving the reaction she was getting from Andy. "Oh yes, very much so," he mumbled to her as he bent his head and kissed her lips.

They maneuvered themselves onto the bed, Andy forgetting about the clothes he was going to change into and concentrating on feeling Sharon underneath him. "You're absolutely beautiful," he whispered as his lips kissed their way up her neck to behind her ear. She worked diligently on removing Andy's clothes until he was down to only his boxers.

They continued kissing and caressing each other throughout the night. Andy landed on his back and Sharon was on his side. Both of them, trying to catch their breaths afterwards. "I'm glad you're feeling better and that the doctor cleared you," he told her as he ran his fingers up and down her spine. "Me too, I missed being with you," she shifted her head and rested it on his chest.

Andy reached down and pulled the covers up over both of their bodies. He stared up at the ceiling, as he held Sharon, finally feeling that he was now able to relax. He closed his eyes and shortly later, both of them were sleeping.

The End


End file.
